Slim, tall and white, media shapes concept of beauty

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."