Beauty

Beauty is very much related to health, which is why I decided to write this blog next. How do women’s magazines define beauty? How do men’s magazines define beauty? Are there connections, or are the definitions completely different?

According to women’s magazines, beauty is focused on the face and hair. No woman’s face and hair are good enough as is, which is why she needs products to “fix” them. The “burning beauty questions” consisted of how often to wear makeup, dry hair, and a puffy face. Cosmopolitan claims that these are the most pressing questions about beauty women have. For each, they suggested products that ranged from $16 to $65. For women, beauty comes at an expense. There is no such thing as natural beauty. Instead, one must buy multiple products in order to fashion one’s body into an acceptable state.

There was also an entire page in Cosmopolitan’s beauty section devoted to “his picks”, where men get to vote on what is most beautiful for women. They voted on perfume (women need to wear it up on their body so that he has more access to it), shin stubble (65% care if their girlfriend has it), and long hair (men prefer midlength hair). Clearly, women try and “become” beautiful for men’s sake. Cosmopolitan suggests that women would have no reason to wear perfume, shave their legs, or worry about their haircut if they were trying to attract a man. It perpetuates the idea of a flawless woman who constantly updates her look while maintaining a timeless beauty. She is up to date on trends, but never forsakes her “natural femininity”.

Unlike the women’s magazines, the two men’s magazines I analyze do not have a section devoted to beauty. Rather, they have “Fitness” and “Guy Knowledge”. In both of these sections, body strength is the dominant feature. There are multiple articles on how to “lost body fat and gain muscle” and on how to “tone your body”. It seems that, as with health, beauty for men is very much acquainted with how strong a man’s body is. The more muscle a man has, the more beautiful he is.

Interestingly, there was also a section in Men’s Health about skin care and body grooming. Apart from physical strength, the main concerns for men’s beauty are very similar to women’s. There is an article on how to “diagnose your dermis”. For men, clear skin is just as important as it is for women. Additionally, there is a section devoted to “[joining] the anti-fur crowd”, referring to chest hair. While women are supposed to be concerned about their “shin stubble”, men are supposed to worry about chest hair. According to this article, “women are most attracted to men who keep their chest hair in check”. Like women, men are supposed to be hairless in order to attract women. Instead of using a survey to prove their point like in the woman’s magazine, however, they use biology: “The finding may stem from women’s evolutionary belief that hairless men are healthier”. Men want proof from science, it seems, rather than actual women. This author must believe that men are more likely to believe scientific “evidence” than a random survey that may or may not reflect the beliefs of the female population at large.