Jean Kilbourne You May Ask Yourself Analysis

Jean Kilbourne is an author, speaker, and filmmaker who is internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising, specifically from her article, Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising (“Jean Kilbourne Full Biography”). As a researcher on the image of women she wrote this article which gives insight into the effects of how women are portrayed in advertisements and who benefits from it all. First, she begins the article by stating that “the average American is accustomed to blue-eyed blondes seductively touting a variety of products” (Kilbourne 1990). By saying this she is generalizing that all models are blue-eyed and blond (see Figure 1). Although the February 2017 edition of Vogue had a majority of models with darker
First, socialization is important to understand in tandem with beauty because socialization is what makes a cultural definition of beauty. Mainstream magazines, such as Vogue, are consistent with filling their pages with thin, white, and sexually attractive women which creates a norm for what the vast amount of viewers then begin to associate as beautiful. Month after month when the subscribers get the new edition in the mail these norms are reinforced and internalized as ideal feminine beauty. While this process is going on the individual is being socialized and as a result they will start to dress and present themselves as close as they can to the fashion models in hope to also be identified as beautiful. Additionally, the idea of culture also works alongside the idea of feminine beauty and is the reason why the generalization of what beauty is varies from country to country. When one adapts a certain culture, he or she is shaped by a set of beliefs, traditions, and practices that the culture believes about beauty. As a result, they begin to accept the the traditional cultural definition of beauty and how it is performed everyday. For example, in China, one might where a traditional Chinese dress and perform traditional dances because that is admired and considered beautiful in the culture. Overall, the ideas of socialization and culture are specifically relevant in connection with beauty for my paper because it goes in depth with how an immense amount of Americans are socialized and cultured with the idea of ideal feminine beauty that results in an abundance of money for beauty