Beauty in Comparison

Body Image and Body Satisfaction Amongst African American and Saudi American Women in Juxtaposition to the American Feminine Ideal

Innocence Branch & Eman Rihbiny

Every culture has a set of generic beliefs about what constitutes femininity and ideal beauty.

Body shape and appearance or body image, and body satisfaction are important elements of the intricate mechanism of one’s own identity.

Relevant research and theory suggests that cultural norms for appearance present unrealistic standards of beauty which may contribute to women’s body dissatisfaction.

Beauty & Culture

American Ideal Female Body Image

Our investigation- Does awareness of the American ideal female body image (based on a European standard) negatively impact African American and Saudi American women's global self-esteem?

Criteria included:

• Levels of body image dissatisfaction for various appearance features

• Examining the influence of sociocultural factors (e.g., parents, loved ones, and peers)

• Internal factor of self-esteem (may increase the risk of body discontentment for these women).

Preliminary research suggests that self-esteem, environmental and social influences are the strongest indicators of body dissatisfaction among African American women considered along with other social sources of attitudes toward body image.

American Beauty IdealAfrican American women and Saudi American women’s body image is in constant juxtaposition to the American feminine beauty ideal.

Like so many other minority women in America, they are seen as a sum of their parts and their bodies are held subject to the U.S. European beauty standards as a measure of their overall personal beauty.

Exploited African-American Venus

Sara Baartman nicknamed “Hottentot Venus”

• Born: 1789 Gamtoos River, South Africa

• Died: December 29, 1815, Paris, France

• The most famous Khoikhoi woman exhibited as freak show attractions in 19th-century Europe.

• Baartman had sought to capitalize on her unique body image but Europeans exploited for it instead.

Black female artists have come to expect their bodies to be displayed. Historically, black women’s bodies have always been exploited in the media. Some of these women have learned to capitalize on their body images and African Assets:

• Josephine Baker & infamous for her banana dance

• Pam Grier - the original Foxy Brown and ‘Queen of Blaxploitation’ films-Renowned as a sex symbol for her assets (‘Coffy’ and ‘Foxy Brown’).

• Grace Jones, Beyonce’, Niki Minaj, Eartha Kitt, Little Kim, Jill Scott, Chaka Kahn, Vanessa Williams, Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell, etc….

Society’s Emphasis on Feminine Physical

Appearance

Social Comparison Theory

Has been useful for examining peer influence on women’s body dissatisfaction.

• Jones, Krones, Stice, Batres, & Orjada (2001; 2005), women whom embrace the mediated ideal (European) American beauty but do not meet that measurement and have peers who do “may engage in upward comparisons and potentially experience body image dissatisfaction.”

Effects of social factors & Media in Relation to Body Image & Body

DissatisfactionMoussa et al. (2009) define body image as an individual’s perceptions, feelings and thoughts about his or her body, and psychological significance they attach to their appearance.

• Outer appearance has taken up a greater space in the human psyche than ever before.

• Evident in the amount of attention given to the subject in the media, conversations, and at the market.

• Are women insidiously buying into the idea that because we are less than physically perfect that we are less valuable?

• This issue can affect our physical and mental health.

Mousa, T. Y., Mashal, R. H., Al-Domi, H. A., & Jibril, M. A. (2010)

Risk Factors

Risk factors associated with the issue:

Individual

Family

Social Factors

https://youtu.be/SCxjUrNbIkI

https://youtu.be/b6XfMtaw8aU

Rationale for Research

Does the media influence individual perceptions of an ‘ideal body’ for Arab and African American women?

What are the social issues in Arab countries that affect women’s take on body image? What social issues in the United States affect African American women’s perception of body image?

Do women in different Arabic countries differ in their perception of body image? Do African American women in the United States differ in their perception of body image from women of other ethnicities?

What are differences in Arabic women cultural ideals from the rest of the world?

Are there relationships between eating attitudes and body image concerns among females in Arabic countries?

Are there relationships between eating attitudes and body image concerns among African American females?

3 Major Research Hypotheses

The media negatively influences Arabic and African American women’s perception of an ‘ideal body’ causing body dissatisfaction.

Social factors such as peers and parents influence Arabic women’s body image preferences and dissatisfactions.

The majority of African American women’s overall body image and body satisfaction will be as equally influenced by negative media, family and or peer influences as Arabic women.

Literature ReviewMoussa et al reveal that peers and family pressure as well as mass media messages are associated with people’s obsession with their body image.

Shrum's (2009) observation: “cultivation may not always create attitudes, but often serves to reinforce them.”

Morgan and Shanahan (2010) also noted that viewers often seek out programming that reflects and reinforces their existing beliefs, thus further strengthening attitudes.

Abdollahi and Mann (2001)-

• Investigated eating disorder symptoms and body image concerns for women in Saudi Arabia, comparing Saudi women in America with those in Saudi Arabia.

• Study shows few differences between the two groups; with participants in Saudi showing much dissatisfaction. Less dissatisfaction among Saudi women in America was partly associated with exposure to Western media.

• Noted that the stereotypical body size of women portrayed within mass media has been greatly reduced.

Literature Review (Cont.)Patton (2006)- Hey girl, am I more than my hair?: African

American women and their struggles with beauty, body image, and hair:

• Afrocentric theory & standpoint theory was used to examine the effect of the European standard of beauty upon African American women.

• Helped to shed light on the salience of the effects of body image, standards of beauty, image, and hair.

• Article questions American societal measures of beauty demonstrating that adherence to the European American beauty ideal has, and continues to have, catastrophic effects on African American women. Likewise, this researcher aligns African American women against the standard cultural ideal of American beauty challenging the hegemonic European standard of beauty through Black beauty liberation.

Limitations of Previous Studies

Various evidence show that how people relate and exposure to social media affect perception about oneself, yet neglected to narrow down to contemporary issues of African American and Saudi American women such as body image and body dissatisfaction.

Previous research has covered body image dissatisfaction among schoolgirls in Amman and Saudi Arabia , for instance, with no specific focus on the Arabic women as a whole (Amanda et al., 2009; Moussa et al. 2010).

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