Week 9 | Race and Beauty

Rida Riaz
ASA 141
Week 9: Race and Beauty by Shaw
05/24/2019

This reading was probably one of my favorites as this analyzes how Western and Asian models are portrayed from magazines in Asia and the United States. Moreover, it tackled down the gender roles that women portray as well as the category each race was used most in which is important to talk more about in the society we live in as feminism is constructed from a Western viewpoint that it almost disregards the practices or the ways women are represented in other nations. Society often is the first to judge women based on their exterior characteristics and advertisements usually emphasize women's sexuality or how women are presented to be gazed upon. In Asian cultures, researchers noticed how the direct gaze in the camera was quite uncommon as it depicted aggressiveness as well as unfemineinity whereas in the U.S. models looked directly into the camera showing a seductive look.

This article observed each layer in the role of women across cultures in advertising. Moreover, as far as culture is concerned, women are portrayed differently since Singapore and Taiwan are more towards the feminine side whereas United State is towards the masculine side. Women are powerful and our strength should be defined about the factors that mold us to who we are and not by the way society wants us to be portrayed as. Advertising companies should portray the injustices and stereotypes that women must face through in order to make a society where a woman doesn't have to be masculine to be accepted or taken seriously or even respected. These advertisements should allow women and little girls to feel empowered and not just live by society's impression of what's beautiful or perfect, but by showing diversity as well as other aspects in a woman's life that makes her successful rather than by what she's wearing, what boy she's posing with or the makeup she has on her face.