Beauty Standards

[Wherenextcolumbus]

Well I'm a terrible dancer anyway so...

I can't imagine wearing them every day. The ones I pick out are comfortable but the literature just says not to do it on a regular basis. Wearing them once in a while is not really known to cause any physical problems but wearing them all the time seems like a recipe for major foot issues.

In salsa dancing, heels are generally worn and the dancing is somehow still ridiculously good. Like, she moves better on heels than I could ever hope to do even when barefoot:

[youtube]F5zCGgZMaWQ[/youtube]
Amazing Latin Dance! - YouTube

(It's just amazing to watch what they do, the stunts get better and better in the video.)

Even when I wore high heels I worn them rarely and they still really hurt after a while, so even though wearing them once in a while doesn't cause permanent damage, it still takes enduring pain. And you have to make the effort to learn how to walk in them or you will just fall over and break you're ankle. How am I meant to completely enjoy myself if I'm thinking about how much my feet are throbbing ? And I can tell when I see a woman wearing high heels that her feet are burning her, unless of course she wears them all the time and therefore she's good at hiding it.

 

[Penumbra]

Even when I wore high heels I worn them rarely and they still really hurt after a while, so even though wearing them once in a while doesn't cause permanent damage, it still takes enduring pain. And you have to make the effort to learn how to walk in them or you will just fall over and break you're ankle. How am I meant to completely enjoy myself if I'm thinking about how much my feet are throbbing ? And I can tell when I see a woman wearing high heels that her feet are burning her, unless of course she wears them all the time and therefore she's good at hiding it.

It depends on the shoe. Most heels hurt. Not all of them, especially well-designed ones that are only moderately high, like the ones I occasionally wear. I also do research on reviews, because a good shoe is kind of expensive and then can last for a very long time if only worn once in a while, so I do my homework before buying a pair of heels or any shoe at all.

The shoes in that video I posted do look like they'd hurt after a little while, but basically I'm just saying that in that type of dancing, heels don't seem to be an impediment, although I can't imagine how they do that. Personally, I don't wear heels that hurt.

One thing a bunch of us did back in high school, is that when we had school dances, we'd bring a pair of socks with us. So like, we wore these high heels that did hurt to go along with our dresses, have our pictures taken and meet our partners and stuff, but then like 1 hour into the dance, we'd take the shoes off and put the socks on so that we could just go around and dance comfortably, which shows the irrationality of the whole exercise. But yeah, after high school I stopped doing that, a no-shoes-that-hurt policy.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Good heavens...that video....it's like really really really good foreplay for me. Thanks, Lyn.

Regarding shoes and dancers. All professional dancers have messed up feet. Women more so than men, but men have messed up feet too. Bunions and splits and callouses everywhere on the feet to accommodate the demands that dancers have.

I've danced countless shows on character heels around 2 inches tall. And one performance I was required to wear stiletto heels 5 inches tall (it's practically half my height lol). I've also coached and choreographed for many musicals where the standard is for females to dance in heels. How dancers are coached to deal with foot pain and blisters is to wear the heels as much as possible. That way, your foot and body cope with the pressures and weight placement and rubbing on the skin for a considerable length of time.

Pointe shoes (toe shoes for ballerinas) are the same way. Feet will bleed and your feet go into excruciating pain because you need to be on your toes for hours. But dancers are coached to cope with the pain, and that we accept that it's a part of the training and performance.

Crazy, isn't it?

 

[Penumbra]

Good heavens...that video....it's like really really really good foreplay for me. Thanks, Lyn.

My favorite part is 1:00-1:25 where he spins her around a lot then after that she arches her back and then stays there motionlessly.

Regarding shoes and dancers. All professional dancers have messed up feet. Women more so than men, but men have messed up feet too. Bunions and splits and callouses everywhere on the feet to accommodate the demands that dancers have.

I've danced countless shows on character heels around 2 inches tall. And one performance I was required to wear stiletto heels 5 inches tall (it's practically half my height lol). I've also coached and choreographed for many musicals where the standard is for females to dance in heels. How dancers are coached to deal with foot pain and blisters is to wear the heels as much as possible. That way, your foot and body cope with the pressures and weight placement and rubbing on the skin for a considerable length of time.

Pointe shoes (toe shoes for ballerinas) are the same way. Feet will bleed and your feet go into excruciating pain because you need to be on your toes for hours. But dancers are coached to cope with the pain, and that we accept that it's a part of the training and performance.

Crazy, isn't it?

Yeah I've read that about the pro dancing industry and I don't envy that problem! I wouldn't want to do things that significantly mess up the comfort or appearance of the feet, so dancers must have an extraordinary amount of passion to pay that price of that pain. Bleeding feet and the list of problems just sounds awful.

It's interesting what you say about being told to wear the heels as much as possible to get used to them. Because in any other context, the advice is to not wear the same type of shoe all of the time (and ideally to just go barefoot as much as possible), so that the foot doesn't develop repetitive issues with the same spots. But the goal there is to keep the feet healthy and comfortable and soft, so if someone is hardcore about needing to wear a shoe for intense performances and practices, then yeah I guess wearing it all the time to develop calluses would be necessary.

 

[dawny0826]

http://cumber-hiddles.tumblr.com/post/68793150785/last-week-my-friend-jessi-took-some-amazing

I thought I would post this link here, please read the comments under it also.
Even though I participate in it, I am very honest about how beauty standards effect women and our self esteem. And we know we damn well lie to ourselves about it too, we pretend that it doesn't, that we genuinely like it, that we would do it anyway even if it was not basically forced on us.
I thought it's something important to talk about, especially that some men think the burqa is more degrading and ban worthy, when make-up, high heels and waxing is handed down to us too. We are expected to be masochistic and feel happy to experience pain to look more fragile and feminine. And our own mothers will help us to be this way so we can fit in.
I am a radical for goodness sake and still feel like I need to look better every day. So please share your thoughts.

I'm a makeup artist. My face is my canvas every morning. I look forward to practicing my skill every day. It makes me happy because it's fun and I'm good at it.

I've never felt pressured (and probably should, with my partaking in the fruits of the beauty industry) to wear makeup or to express myself in this way. It's something that I discovered on my own when I was very young. My mother protested and I found a way to purchase makeup anyway.

I have a great eye for fashion, and often pay attention to what's on the runways, but, I've always been more interested in what the makeup artists and hair stylists are doing back stage.

I think a lot of this boils down to individual self esteem. I love myself enough that the fashion and beauty industries can't break me. They inspire me. If I've ever felt pressured - it translates to buying an eyeshadow palette that I really didn't need but wanted because it was one of a kind.

I like myself for who I am. Makeup artisty is something that's enjoyable and accentuates the beauty that I already know I possess. As an independent, strong woman, I have the ability to embrace that which inspires me and makes me happy. It's about ME.

I'm a feminist who loves the beauty industry because it yields the goodies that I get to play with. I don't define beauty for other women. I enjoy accentuating my own with cosmetics.

 

[Mycroft]

So far as I can see, the core issue with beauty standards is the great extent to which they are nowadays manufactured by the cosmetics, entertainment, and fashion industries. I am convinced that is an unhealthy development because it so often results in people trying to live up to standards that are not of their own creation, that might not be suitable to them, and that are most likely not a genuine or faithful expression of themselves. That's all good for business, but it seems to be taking a steep psychological toll in reducing the confidence and self-esteem of many women and girls, among other such problems.

Cosmetics, however, have less and less to do with 'beauty' in media. 'Beauty' in media is becoming simply unobtainable (see video).

But why do we call it 'beauty'? Beauty isn't what is on the outside, beauty is many-faceted and incorporates many things about a person from personality to integrity to character, etc. Looks being the least and most transient of all qualities.


[youtube]17j5QzF3kqE[/youtube]
Body Evolution - Model Before and After - YouTube

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

It's amazing how many women want what other women have.

In India, Indonesia and other countries where dark skin is the norm, women use whitening creams, avoid direct sunlight, suffer with vitamin D deficiencies and look sick.

In Australia, America and other nations where white skin is the norm, women rush off to tanning salons, the beach etc and look like lobsters.

I'll wear minimum make-up and I never used to wear it...I never needed to, but as I approach 50, a bit of loose powder finish, some eyeliner, tinted lipgloss and some essential oils of lavender or violet...yeah, I need it...

I never wear high heels. I never learned to walk in them and trip head over heels in them. I was born pretty much 'ungainly' anyway and that's something I've had to work on.

I also admit to dying my hair regularly, as I started going grey at 16...it is genetic and can't really do anything about that.

True beauty comes from within though. It's in the eyes...in the smile...when a woman is in love...when she is happy with her life...

A lot of it looks so fake though and you can tell.

It's impossible for the average woman (average in looks and body) to compete with fashion and beauty standards. One simply cannot live up to them.

There comes a time when a woman must say 'beauty isn't in the eye of the beholder, it's in the eye of the wearer' and just continue on like that.

Having said that...a woman can wake up pretty 'meh', put her 'face on' and feel much better...ready to tackle the world and such, without looking like something the cat dragged in.

 

[Pine]

Standards are self-imposed. No one is telling women, or men for that matter, that they have to look like runway models.

The current "standards" are grossly unrealistic. I would never ask a person to starve themselves to achieve a particular look. It isn't worth it.

Women in other countries shouldn't worry about Western standards for beauty. It is their variety that makes them so compelling.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

I just want to add that this thread wasn't meant to be taken personally and for people to list in detail their beauty regimes and what they are willing and not willing to do themselves. It was about how we have been socialised to view ourselves as women and to place more value on ourselves by what me look like than men. And for us to be able to be honest about it.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

Standards are self-imposed. No one is telling women, or men for that matter, that they have to look like runway models.

The current "standards" are grossly unrealistic. I would never ask a person to starve themselves to achieve a particular look. It isn't worth it.

Women in other countries shouldn't worry about Western standards for beauty. It is their variety that makes them so compelling.

Are you a feminist?

 

[MysticSang'ha]

I just want to add that this thread wasn't meant to be taken personally and for people to list in detail their beauty regimes and what they are willing and not willing to do themselves. It was about how we have been socialised to view ourselves as women and to place more value on ourselves by what me look like than men. And for us to be able to be honest about it.

I always found that fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were constantly evaluated by how they look much more so than what they are advocating in public policy. Just two examples.

I heard the left consistently harp on Sarah Palin for her glasses, hairstyle, and her voice. And I heard the right consistently harp on Hillary for her voice, if she looked angry, her weight, and why it was obvious Bill slept with everybody else.

Judging women on their appearance is pervasive.

 

[Pine]

Are you a feminist?

I am a free American who believes in common sense. I don't think women should cave to public pressure to look a specific way.

Freedom is paramount. If a woman wants to dress in sweats and carry a little extra weight she should be allowed to do so without fear of judgment.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

I am a free American who believes in common sense. I don't think women should cave to public pressure to look a specific way.

Freedom is paramount. If a woman wants to dress in sweats and carry a little extra weight she should be allowed to do so without fear of judgment.

Happy for you but this is a feminist forum.

 

[Pine]

So my opinion is irrelevant even though I'm a woman.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Not all women are feminists and not all feminists are women.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

I always found that fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were constantly evaluated by how they look much more so than what they are advocating in public policy. Just two examples.

I heard the left consistently harp on Sarah Palin for her glasses, hairstyle, and her voice. And I heard the right consistently harp on Hillary for her voice, if she looked angry, her weight, and why it was obvious Bill slept with everybody else.

Judging women on their appearance is pervasive.

Exactly, and we pick up on this from a very young age. I watched a YouTube video where this woman said because she felt she was not very beautiful she puts so much pressure on herself to be really academic, because if she not pretty and not significantly smart or academic then she's not worth anything.

And even when we resist we are seen as "gross," women's natural bodies are viewed as "gross," and "unclean." If we don't wax we are "unclean" even though we are happy to snuggle up under a mans hairy armpits. We, as we are is "dirty."

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

Happy for you but this is a feminist forum.

Your opinion is irrelevant because this is a feminist forum and it's clear by what you posted that you don't understand feminist discourse about beauty standards. So that is why I asked the question...

 

[Pine]

No, I don't understand English.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

No, I don't understand English.

No, you are just a bit in-denial about the microagressions women face.

 

[Pine]

You're kidding, right? I worked in law enforcement before I retired. I don't know anything about societal pressure to conform.