On Being and Becoming Beautiful: The Social Construction of Feminine Beauty

An abstract concept yet widely pervasive across time and space, beauty, remains a matter of core concern in many cultures. Just as standards of social status that are achievable, beauty standards can be sometimes partially at others wholly achieved through the use of different methods and techniques. Being beautiful is a status on a continuum of ascribed as well as achieved status. Some people are born beautiful others become beautiful. In either case, the beauty evaluations are based on cultural standards and norms. Beauty is often closely associated with femininity. Based on 23 in depth interviews this paper attempts at a comprehensive understanding of beauty. Beauty is understood as a bipartite concept with internal beauty referring to the personality traits and external to body features. Feminine beauty can be enhanced through cosmetics, clothing and ornamentation. The study concludes that feminine beauty is a socially constructed and highly fluid phenomenon. Even when we manage to achieve somewhat standardized general framework of certain beauty attributes, there is a great variability within these attributes.