Nationalizing Body Image

In this article, we explore body image in contemporary Kazakhstan by analytically situating it at the intersection of post-socialist neoliberal transformation and retraditionalized gender regimes. Drawing on feminist body scholarship, we examine how women negotiate ethnic and gender identities through everyday beauty practices of aesthetic labor. Analyzing women’s narratives through reflexive thematic analysis approach, we understood body image as a moral field in which bodies are judged for propriety, ethnic legitimacy, and feminine authenticity. We show, first, that participants experience gendered surveillance and expectations of “proper” womanhood; second, that these moral demands frame women’s bodies as sites of failure, prompting strategies of aesthetic labor—minimizing visibility and selectively asserting presence to reclaim autonomy; and third, that women critically reflect on these contradictions and reimagine femininities that decenter physical appearance. We argue, ultimately, that body image can function as a political mechanism regulating women’s entitlement to visibility, participation, and belonging.

Gender and Feminist Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Gender, Security, and Conflict