Kenny Erin - Beauty Around the World: a Cultural Encyclopedia

Beauty around the World

A Cultural Encyclopedia

ERIN KENNY AND ELIZABETH GACKSTETTER NICHOLS

Copyright 2017 by ABC-CLIO, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kenny, Erin, 1969- author. | Nichols, Elizabeth Gackstetter, author.

Title: Beauty around the world : a cultural encyclopedia / Erin Kenny and Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols.

Description: Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016058358 (print) | LCCN 2017016328 (ebook) | ISBN 9781610699457 (ebook) | ISBN 9781610699440 (hardcopy : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Beauty, PersonalCross-cultural studies.

Classification: LCC GT499 (ebook) | LCC GT499 .K46 2017 (print) | DDC 646.7/2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016058358

ISBN: 978-1-61069-944-0

EISBN: 978-1-61069-945-7

21 20 19 18 17 1 2 3 4 5

This book is also available as an eBook.

ABC-CLIO

An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC

ABC-CLIO, LLC

130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911

Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911

www.abc-clio.com

This book is printed on acid-free paper

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

List of Entries

Acne and Acne Treatments

Advertising

Airbrushing

Apatani Tribe, India

Argentina

Baldness

Barbershop

Barbie

Bathing and Showering

BBW (Big, Beautiful Woman)

Beards. See Facial Hair

Bindi

Black Is Beautiful Movement, or Black Power

Blondes and Blonde Hair

Bodybuilding

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Body Modification

Body Positivity

Botox

Brazil

Breast Augmentation and Reduction Surgeries

Breast Binding (Chest Binding)

Breast Ironing

Breasts

Brunettes and Black Hair

Bunda

Burlesque

Burqa

Buttocks Lifts and Implants

Butts and Booty

The Caribbean

Chemical Peels and Fillers

China

Class

Corn Rows (Cane Rows)

Corsets, Shapewear, and Waist Trainers

Dance-Hall Beauty: Skin Out and Bling

Dcolletage

Dental Hygiene and Cosmetic Dentistry

Deodorant and Antiperspirants

Disciplinary Practices/Disciplinary Power

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

Drag

Dreadlocks

Eating Disorders

Egypt

Elongated Labia

Exoticize

Eye Color

Eye Shape

Eyebrows

Eyelid Surgery

Facelifts

Facial Hair

Feminism

Fetish

Footbinding

Geisha

Gender

Goth and Gothic

Greece

Grillz (Grills)

Hair

Hair Dye

Hair Extensions and Weaves

Hair Removal

Hair Straightening

Headbinding

Height

Henna. See Mehendi

High Heels

Hijab

Himba of Namibia (Herero, Ovahimba)

Hourglass Shape

India

Indonesia

Injections

Iran

Italy

Japan

Jewelry

Kayan (Karen) Neck Rings (Padaung Neck Rings)

Kayapo

Labiaplasty

Leg Lengthening Surgery

Liposuction

Lip Plates

Lips

Lipstick and Lip Tattoos

Long Earlobes

Maasai

Magazines

Makeup and Cosmetics

Male Gaze

Manicure

Mannequin

Manscaping

Masculinity

Maya

Mehendi (Hina, Henna)

Metrosexual

Mexico

Moko Tattoos

Monroe, Marilyn

Moustache. See Facial Hair

Narcissism

Nose Jobs

Obesity

Orientalism

The Other

Otoplasty

Pageants, Indigenous

PageantsInternational, National, and Local Contests

PageantsTranspageants

Pedicure

Performance/Performativity

Perfumes and Scented Oils

Piercing

Plastic Surgery

Pomade

Progressive Muscularity

Red Hair/Ginger

Ritual Cleansing (Ritual Purification)

Salons

Scarification

Sexy

Shapewear. See Corsets, Shapewear, and Waist Trainers

Shaving. See Hair Removal

Shea Butter

Skin Bleaching. See Skin Whitening

Skin Tone

Skin Whitening

Social Construction of Beauty

Sousa, Osmel

South Korea

Supermodels

Symmetry

Tanning

Tattoos

Teeth Blackening

Tooth Chipping (Teeth Chiseling, Teeth Modification, Tooth Sharpening)

Tuareg

United Kingdom

United States

Vanity

Venezuela

Walker, Madame C. J.

Weight

Wife Fattening

Wodaabe Fulani (Niger)

Wrinkles

Wudu

Yaeba (Tooth Crowding)

Youth

Preface

Beauty is one of those notoriously difficult concepts to try to squeeze into mere words: we know it when we see it. Usually, beauty can elicit a response inside us, something that we are preconditioned to seek or desire. We need beauty to live because it draws us in, engages us, and touches our human experiences with awe and pleasure. It inspires us, gives us a sense of aspiration, taking us outside of ourselves and motivating us. According to some, beauty is essential to life and to happiness.

This text takes an interdisciplinary approach to the field of beauty studies. We try to provide historical and cultural context to the biological notion of beauty. The prior research of the authors represents forays into thinking about beauty and bodies from the perspectives of the social sciences and the humanities. We are a cultural anthropologist with research experiences in both East and West Africa (Erin) and a cultural studies scholar specializing in cultures of Latin America (Elizabeth). Weve both taught extensively on the topic of beauty and bodies in introductory classes to undergraduate students, where many of these entries were born.

We also both identify as feminist scholars. As such, we bring a critical lens to the ways that certain natural ideas about beauty have been socially constructed within patriarchal systems and the ways that these ideas have circulated throughout the postcolonial world. Using an intersectional framework, we are acutely aware of the ways that these notions may disproportionately affect women and people of color. We tried in this text to be very sensitive about issues of representation: we acknowledge and wish to never reproduce the symbolic violences done to marginalized peoples.

In this volume, weve listed 166 alphabetical entries that deal with some aspect of beauty, understood as the aesthetic pleasure of visual appearance.

Of course, we found it difficult to be truly exhaustive in each entry, especially in the historical sense of chronicling all beauty patterns throughout time and space. In general, when a category is topped with the name of a nation, country, or tribal group, we have tried to provide the most vivid, iconic, or best-known version of that term or location.

This book will be most useful as a starting point for others looking for further reading or preparing for more serious interrogation into the issues of beauty. Each entry contains suggestions for additional sources that can be consulted. Readers should also be aware of the extensive bibliography of materials culled from books, popular magazines, scholarly articles, and the Internet, including several sources that we have translated ourselves from Spanish and French.