Cosmetics Depicting False Femininity in Vogue Essay

In today’s contemporary society, magazines, such as Vogue, depict women utilizing cosmetics to enhance their natural features in order to achieve the central goal of attractiveness. This idea of a consumerist society causes women to become objects of desire and victims of suppression, impacting their individual identities. The concept of consumerism allows Vogue to profit materially, targeting certain aspects of culture through three methodological tools of research, such as ethnography, textual, and political/economic analysis. Through the methodological tools of cultural research, I will analytically critique, how, through the use cosmetics in Vogue, the female gender is objectified and leads to profiting political, economic and social†¦show more content†¦Through these multiple interpretations of ideal femininity, different cultures portray the ideal woman in different ways. Vogue is just one of the many examples, illustrating the idea of femininity and how societa l structures enforce women to look and act in a certain way in order to be accepted in society; however, I believe women should be accepted as their natural self, reinforcing the concept that culture should be freely expressed. Connotations of the representation of cultural objects such as, the female gender as illustrated in Vogue, articulate the concept of the ideal femininity. Subsequently, leading people to formulate interpretations of gender roles into their everyday lives. It can be assumed that the articulation of women’s alluring biological features, which are depicted on Vogue covers, symbolize the power of enchantment a woman holds in a heterosexual society. Thus, the binary opposition negatively distorts the social identities which construct specification between both genders roles. This distortion causes heterosexuality to be the only norm accepted in society. As a result, homosexuality is portrayed to be a concept of gender roles that lies beyond the acceptance of society. One problem that is associated with binary opposition, is that women become envious of the flawless features of the ideal women. Whereas, men become victims of attractiveness, compelling themselves to set up expectatio ns for their ideal sex partners to have falseShow MoreRelatedManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 Pagesbe understood differently by different groups. In one sense, perhaps, this could be seen as a sort of falseness, but that may be too narrow a view. Nixon reflected on this aspect of de Gaulle’s leadership: â€Å"General de Gaulle was a facade, but not a false one. Behind it was a man of incandescent intellect and a phenomenal discipline. The facade was like the ornamentation on a great cathedral, rather than the flimsy pretense of a Hollywood prop with nothing behind it† (p. 60). Source: R. Nixon, Leaders