by Biodun Iginla, BBC News
The feminine beauty ideal is "the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of women's most important assets, and something all women should strive to achieve and maintain".[1] Feminine beauty ideals are rooted in heteronormative beliefs, and heavily influence women of all sexual orientations. The feminine beauty ideal, which also includes female body shape, varies from culture to culture.[2] Pressure to conform to a certain definition of "beautiful" can have psychological effects, such as depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem, starting from an adolescent age and continuing into adulthood.
The feminine beauty ideal is "the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of women's most important assets, and something all women should strive to achieve and maintain".[1] Feminine beauty ideals are rooted in heteronormative beliefs, and heavily influence women of all sexual orientations. The feminine beauty ideal, which also includes female body shape, varies from culture to culture.[2] Pressure to conform to a certain definition of "beautiful" can have psychological effects, such as depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem, starting from an adolescent age and continuing into adulthood.
The feminine beauty ideal is portrayed in many children's fairy tales.[1] It has been common in the Brothers Grimm fairy tales for physical attractiveness in female characters to be rewarded.[3] In those fairy tales, "beauty is often associated with being white, economically privileged, and virtuous."[3]
The Brothers Grimm fairy tales usually involve a beautiful heroine. In the story Snow White, the protagonist Snow White is described as being "white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony wood" and "as beautiful as the light of day."[4] This fairy tale is defining beauty as being Caucasian with rosy cheeks and black hair. On the other hand, the antagonistof Brothers Grimm fairy tales is frequently described as ugly, relating beauty with goodness and ugliness with evil.[3] Ultimately, this correlation puts an emphasis on the virtue of being beautiful, as defined by fairy tales.
Starting almost 100 years after the Grimm Brothers wrote their fairy tales, the Walt Disney Animation Studios adapted these tales into animated feature films. About 40 percent of Disney films made from 1937-2000 had "only dominant cultural themes portrayed."[5] Because the majority of characters are white, "the expectation [is] that all people are or should be like this."[5] Other common traits of female Disney characters are thin bodies with impossible bodily proportions, long, flowing hair, and large round eyes.[6] The constant emphasis on female beauty and what constitutes as being beautiful contributes to the overall feminine beauty ideal.
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