Race, beauty, and the tangled knot of a guilty pleasure

Bibliographic Data

ID4367122
AuthorsMaxine Leeds Craig (California State University, East Bay, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume7
Issue2
Pages159-177
Publication date2006-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-7001 • E-ISSN: 1741-2773
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1464700106064414
OpenAlexW2082832037
LanguageEN
Citations received82
References cited29

Recent feminist theory has attempted to bring considerations of women's agency into analyses of the meaning and consequence of beauty norms in women's lives. This article argues that these works have often been limited by their use of individualist frameworks or by their neglect of considerations of race and class. In this article I draw upon examples of African-American utilization of beauty discourse and practices in collective efforts to resist racism. I argue that there is no singular beauty standard enforced by a unified male gaze. Instead, we should conceive of fields in which differently located individuals and groups invest in and promote particular ways of seeing beauty, producing both penalties and pleasures in women's lives

Aesthetics · Beauty · Individualism · Neglect · Pleasure · Political science · Racism · Social science · Sociology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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