Problem
I. How are the ideals of feminine and masculine beauty defined, communicated, and enforced, according to this week's readings? How are race, class, and gender related to the construction of beauty ideals and what are the effects of social pressures on individuals to live up to those ideals?
II. Are beauty practices from wearing cosmetics to shaving to cosmetic surgery "natural" or the result of socially constructed definitions of beauty? How and why are women required to wear makeup and not men? What are the costs to women who strive to achieve the ideals of feminine beauty through various means and to those who don't in different contexts (e.g., the workplace, in evaluations of mental health), according to Sheila Jeffreys?
III. What are the relationships of eating problems and disorders to sexual abuse, poverty, heterosexism, and race, according to Becky W. Thompson?