Kinsa'y Magdiktar Kung Gwapa ba ang Usa ka Babaye o Dili??????

Media, Men and History – not Women – Dictate the
> Standards of Beauty

Did Boy Abunda’s last episode of Private
> Conversations answer the question Who defines a
> beautiful woman? By getting four women of diverse
> social backgrounds – albeit all from the educated
> middle class – the show explored possible answers to
> the question. The guests were an "exotic" fashion
> model, a magazine editor, a TV personality and a
> feminist advocate. They all agreed that it was
> society in general that established the norms of who
> may be considered beautiful.
>
> But who exactly in society makes the standards?
> Answers thrown around included peers and friends,
> stereotypes of religious images, men, the community
> in general as influenced by media.
>
> Present Filipino standards of beauty are
> discriminatory against those who have dark skin.
> This was validated by the model and the editor, who
> explained that Filipinos would tend to not buy a
> magazine if a dark-skinned woman was on the cover.
> The advocate added that dermatologists have
> confirmed that the best-selling cosmetics in the
> market are skin whitening and bleaching products.
>
> All four guests were one in saying that the Pinoy
> prejudice against dark-skinned people has been part
> of our colonial legacy – the powerful Hispanic
> friars with tall noses and the white-skinned sad
> madonnas to the blondes of Hollywood present.
>
> It was also emphasized during the show that while
> standards of beauty have been traditionally set by
> socio-economic needs and cultural aesthetics, the
> norms of today are dictated by the Media Industry –
> which is controlled by men – and that society has
> been greatly influenced by these media norms of
> beauty, whether the public is aware of it or not.
>
> Abunda himself noted that some men have used these
> standards of beauty to make judgements on their own
> wives and partners – and therefore justify
> psychological and physical abuse of women. When a
> man wants to gain status in the eyes of other men,
> he can do it by showing off a young date who
> physical attributes conform to the male standards of
> beauty.
>
> Incidentally, a recent informal survey conducted by
> the Women’s Media Circle Foundation, Inc. and
> KALAKASAN Foundation Inc. of 150 college-educated
> women in Manila – whose ages ranged from 18 to 64 –
> showed similar views on the issue of beauty.
>
> To the question who helps you define your concept of
> beauty, the top three answers were Family (32.5),
> Friends and Peers (22.6) and Media (18.2).
>
> More than 75% agreed that physically attractive
> women were more valued by men; 80% said that
> standards of beauty are very narrowly defined to
> mean physical attractiveness; and more than 85%
> agreed that society in general expected women to
> enhance their physical attractiveness.
>
> When asked what attributed women thought defined
> beauty, the top three answers were: having inner
> strength, being intelligent, and being confident.
> These were followed by: being able to express
> emotions, being kind, being friendly and having a
> sense of humor.
>
> When asked what they most wanted to be, the top four
> answers were: smart (69), respected (65), and kind
> (32), and beautiful (19).
>
> When asked whether physical attractiveness of a
> woman made her more prone to abuse, more than 80%
> said No, mainly because abuse has more to do with a
> man’s need to assert his power. One said that
> sometimes a man would abuse a pretty woman to boost
> his ego. Others said that men associate physical
> attractiveness with weakness and subservience, and
> therefore would tend to hit her.
>
> Ref -- Sinag de Leon Amado, Women’s Media Circle –
> tel. 735-9687
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