Sunday, February 23, 2020

HOW ARE FASHION AND APPEARANCE CENTRAL TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL Essay

HOW ARE FASHION AND APPEARANCE CENTRAL TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL IDENTITIES DISCUSS, WITH REFERENCE TO SPECIFIC EXAMPLES - Essay Example In understanding beauty and the sacrifices that are made for representing what is beautiful, it can be seen that most cultures have supported alterations of the body in order to attain the essence of beauty as it is defined within the social construct, creating identity and status through those sacrifices. The value of beauty is so high that great pain has been endured in order to attain that representation The concept of beauty would seem a simple concept to define, however beauty is sociologically relevant to the culture that defines it and has an evolving meaning that changes through time. At the center of modern Western society is the beauty salon. According to Black (2004), â€Å"The beauty salon stands at the intersection of a number of techniques of the body, which in turn relate to gender, the body, sexuality, class, commodification, leisure practices, consumption, and so on† (p. 7). Current Western society also supports the use of painful surgical remedies to alter th e physical form and create a more beautified appearance. However, pain has been collateral to many of the ways in which beauty has been chased throughout the centuries. While contemporary society may frown upon some of the methods that have been used throughout history, the current trends are actually a continuation of culturally accepted concepts of the discomfort and pain that can be experienced in the pursuit of what is physically beautiful. The Beauty Salon in Western Society The core of the creation of beautiful through physical change within contemporary Western society is the beauty salon, a place where the hair, skin, and nails are attended to in order to project a more beautiful exterior presence. The salon is a social center, as much as it is a utilitarian entity. According to Black (2004), as she quotes Yvette, an owner of a salon, â€Å"Ordinary people come through here The desire of these ‘ordinary people’ is for pleasure and escapism† (p. 2). While what is done there occurs in order to emerge into society with the intention of the results having an impact on the way in which one is viewed, what happens within the salon is as much a part of the identity as the effect of the result. A relationship is developed between the staff and the client, a connection that is made in order to form a social contract where the professional expertise of the staff member becomes the center of the development of an intimacy with the client, the commodified relationship as emotional as it is purposeful. Often the relationship that one has to their beauty professional is as much emotionally therapeutic as it is physically therapeutic (Black 2004, p. 7). What occurs within the salon is often uncomfortable, if not painful, that level of suffering helping to form the bond between the beauty professional and the client. What is experienced and sacrificed in order to attain the result helps to create the intimacy through which the social contract is es tablished. Furthermore, there is a sexuality that is established within the confines of the experience. The salon professional often must inflict pain in a very intimate way in order to achieve the goals of the session. The pain is endured, the recipient developing a dependency on the one inflicting pain as the release of that sensation is within the control of the professional. This pain can become a deep resource of connectivity between the one inflicti

Friday, February 7, 2020

The Roman Fever Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Roman Fever - Essay Example Background Essentially, the story was about the friendship of two women, Grace Ansley and Alida Slade. They were vacationing in Rome with their daughters, Barbara Ansley and Jenny Slade. This was the second time that the two elderly women had been to the city. They had previously visited Rome and the present travel provided a conducive for the two protagonists to reflect on their lives. A good part of it came as offshoot of what transpired in Rome many years ago. As they looked back on the past, a secret was revealed by Mrs. Slade amidst the long rivalry that hounded their friendship through the years. There was some sort of love triangle between Grace, Alida and her husband Delphin Slade in the past. It turned out that Mrs. Slade wrote a fake letter to Mrs. Ansley that supposedly came from Delphin Slade. The letter invited Grace to a tryst in the Coliseum in an effort to break her heart and cease getting in the way between Alida and Delphin as a consequence. It turned out that the t ryst actually transpired with Grace and Delphin meeting each other after the former revealed that she answered the letter and Delphin actually came. Strong Competing Women The story was a convoluted affair, but typical of the experience of the women of the American upper class during the 1930s. What makes this theme remarkable is that the story was controlled throughout by female protagonists, which depicted strong female roles. Certainly, the story was dominated by the two women and, then, there were their daughters, playing minor parts. The only physically present male in the narrative was the Italian waiter and some unseen Italian suitors who, from the statements of the protagonists, can be considered as objects of the predatory desires of their children. When the husbands were finally mentioned, they were referred to in passive roles or as tools in making a make a point, introducing an argument, and issue or a narration of experience. Mr. Horace Ansley was brought up by the two women only to be referred to as dull, spineless, boring and insufferably passive character – â€Å"just a duplicate of his wife† (12). It was obvious that his wife dominated him throughout their married life. Meanwhile, Delphin Slade was only introduced when the letter was brought up. Here, he was a facilitator or a device, if you may, in order for the desired reaction in the case of the letter to be effective. They are not unlike the Italian lovers previously mentioned. They were objects of the female rivalry and female negotiations as they navigated their relationships and pursued their objectives. They were there for a reason and such reason was determined by the women who need their respective resources and ammunition to outdo each other. There are some subtle hints provided by Wharton to support the above point of view. Delphin closely resembles the word "delphic" which is synonymous to ambiguousness and obscurity. The name Delphin may also be related to the Roman Apollo, who was the god of light and represents manly beauty. So Delphin was like the trophy - the object - by which Grace and Alida and their mothers, before them, worked hard to achieve. From the very first words of the story, this tone was already established: â€Å"the women, ladies of ripe but well-cared for middle age moved across the lofty terrace of the Roman restaurant... looked first at each other, and then down on the outspread glories of the Palatine... with the same expression of vague but