Slim, tall and white, media shapes concept of beauty

Many women spend a lot of time and energy in search of beauty, which is shaped by society and the media and beauty and cosmetic industries. The Jakarta Post's Stevie Emilia, Irene Sugiharto, Ingrid Maack and Jules Bell examine the issue.

JAKARTA (JP): An umbrella is now Maya's true friend. Without it, the blazing sun will turn her skin red and itchy.

Her ordeal is the result of a beauty treatment she had two weeks ago in a beauty parlor in South Jakarta with a hope that it could completely erase facial acne scars.

"It hurts, it makes your face feel like its burning," 23-year- old Maya (not her real name), told The Jakarta Post.

A chemical was applied to her face, and for the next 24 hours, not a single drop of water was allowed to touch her face. After 10 days, her facial skin peeled off to allow a new and smoother skin to develop.

Maya, a university student, skipped classes for a week after the treatment and now when she wants to go out in the daytime, she has to take her umbrella. Direct exposure to the sun will make her skin red and itchy. She hopes that she will soon be able to walk in the sun like before, as the beauty parlor has told her the condition would turn into normal within a month at the most.

"Being beautiful is important because people here still tend to judge people on how he or she looks. I know it's not fair, but that's the reality here," she said.

Many other women share Maya's experience in their efforts to search of a better look. Today, with better technology, and certainly the right costs, one can fix almost anything, all you need to do is just name it. Wrinkles, bags under your eyes, big pores, a dark complexion or an unproportioned figure, including large hips, waists or thighs are becoming things of the past.

But one has to be careful because if cosmetic surgery is not done professionally, the results could be disappointing, or even fatal. Which is why Erika (not her real name), had a face lift earlier this year at a private clinic in Singapore.

"In the clinic, there are also many other Indonesian women doing the same thing as I do," the 43-year-old housewife told the Post. "I think it's normal for a woman my age to do such things, and I will do it again if it's necessary."

"Beauty is important for me. You know, if there's something wrong with your face, the way you look, people will stare at you and it makes you feel distressed," said Erika.

She claimed her efforts were really worth it as her husband, a businessman, loved what she did to her face. "He said that I look 10 years younger," Erika said proudly.

Women are more body conscious than men. They pay a great deal of attention to their physical appearance, from head to toe, from the color of their skin to getting rid of the hair on their legs and armpits.

Society shapes women to be feminine and beautiful, while men are masculine and strong. And these expectations are present even before a baby is born. The nursery for a baby girl is painted with a feminine color like pink, while the one for a baby boy is blue. They are also given different toys: Barbie dolls for girls and cars, guns and robots for boys.

Sita Aripurnami of the Kalyana Mitra women's organization, said "From an early age, girls are expected to be feminine and beautiful. Femininity and beauty are closely related and if we look at this gender stereotyping, we can understand why our society value a woman's beauty."

The concept of beauty itself may be different from place to place. In the West, many women risk skin cancer by sunbathing and visiting tanning salons in pursuit of an exotic, tanned look. On the contrary, many Indonesian women want lighter-colored skin.

Sita explained that people here prefer white skin because on a subconscious level, they want to look like their colonizers.

"Indonesian women aren't just bleaching their skin, they are also wearing blue-tinted contact lenses, trying to achieve this western look. An extreme example of this desire can be found in China, where women are undergoing epicanthic surgery to reshape their eyes," said Sita.

As time goes by, the concept of beauty also changes.

Anthropologist Nungki Kusumastuti said that during the Hindu period, beautiful women were those who could have lots of children. "Then, beautiful women were those with large hips and a big tummy and breasts."

In China, baby girls' feet were bound, while Pa Dawn or Karen women in the Huay Poo Gaeng village -- located on the border between Thailand and Myanmar -- wear heavy brass rings around their necks, which give them the appearance of long necks, just in search of beauty.

In Indonesia's Kalimantan area, beautiful Dayak women were those who wore large, heavy silver earrings in their pierced earlobes. Rings were usually added with age, making their earlobes stretch as low as their shoulders and sometimes to their chests.

"Now young Dayak women refuse to wear those large silver earrings anymore. They now think that beautiful women are just like the ones they see on television or in magazines," said Nungki.

She said these days, people define beauty with what they see in the media, such as from how a model, or an actress, looks. To them, beauty is being slim and tall, having small breasts, a white complexion and long legs.

As a matter of fact, it is the media which, along with cosmetics and fashion industries, play the biggest role in shaping one's beauty concept.

According to Sita, the industries aggressively use the present stereotypes against women to their own advantage, in this case, by distributing their own beauty concept through images and information found in the media.

The industries aggressive campaigns are accepted without any question. To the dominant thinking in society, attractiveness is equated with success. Many people think that the images and information they see are true, reflecting the ideal concept of beauty.

On the other hand, there is another issue relating to beauty within society that still causes serious concern.

"If a woman is raped, society blames her if she is attractive and questions her appearance. They relate the incident to her appearance. Women face many contradictions and there is confusion in society about this issue."

At the moment, she said, women's organizations and NGOs are working with the advertising industry to provide alternative information on the matter.

"The advertising industry has been made aware of these issues, and we are working closely together to create productive and healthy campaigns. Through this process, we can educate the community, and this kind of interaction is positive because the advertising industry is learning to take moral considerations."