Pretty in America

By Ketyra Taylor and Shawneka Burch

Today’s society dictates a certain physical appearance. The image for women depicted in
various forms of pop culture such as television and magazines is long, straight hair, a slender body, and a smooth glowing skin. For men, this is a muscular body, high end clothing, and great charisma. Our artifacts represent just how much people, specifically women are willing to pay for this great image. Some things that they buy are are makeup and cosmetics, hair extensions, and nails. Some women will not even leave the comfort of their own home without their hair, make­up and nails done. We will be explaining just how much it costs for women to keep these parts of their appearance together. We will also explore why these things have become so important to women, and why women no longer feel beautiful in the body they were born with.

Vendors take advantage of American women’s insecurities by offering them many varieties of hair, nails, make­up, eyelashes, and everything that they can think to enhance. These artifacts are a part of many women’s everyday lives. The artifacts have made it so women can get any look, as long as they are willing to pay for it. The question is: why are American women so ashamed of the hair texture, skin, and features that they were born with? It seems that everyone is looking over at their neighbor and trying to get whatever they have instead being satisfied with what they have and considering themselves beautiful.

This question can be answered by looking at various social trends. For example, in the 60’s it was popular for African American women to walk around with an afro in order to show their pride for their culture. Nowadays, most African American women are chemically altering the texture of their hair in order to make it straight. Other women with curly hair have invested in expensive flat irons that use heat to straighten the curls out of their hair. This is because society depicts images of women with straight hair as if it is the norm. This is influential to women in that those with thick and curly hair feel inferior and thus conform to trends by turning to relaxers and flat irons.

We feel that sometimes, taking steps to enhance what you already have can be positive for self esteem and overall well­being. However, there is a thin line between taking care of oneself in order to look presentable and being obsessed with your appearance. When women become so obsessed with their appearance they no longer find anything about themselves beautiful, problems can arise. Suddenly, manicure and hair extensions can result to considering surgical procedures. Because society’s standard for women continually increases and such things as plastic surgery are becoming more affordable in America, women are more susceptible to rely on them in order to feel comfortable in their own skin. Nevertheless, women should have some sort of control on their spending when it comes to their appearance. Cosmetics should not be seen as bottles of confidence. Healthy consideration for appearance is essential, but an obsession for appearance only creates additional problems. These problems can range from self esteem issues to financial issues.

At an early age, women find that the better they look, the more attention they get. So they tend to connect attention with appearance and strive to be the best looking woman, so that they can get the most attention. Even in the workplace, women are expected to be pretty in order to be taken seriously by their coworkers. This way of thinking has distorted the way that women today look at themselves in the mirror, and led to every woman looking around and trying to find a way to look better that the woman sitting next to her. These artifacts represent a new era of women who rely heavily on them for self esteem. Today’s women need to learn how to look in the mirror, and call themselves beautiful.