Is beauty a form of oppression for women? Or does it offer them a path to empowerment? Some scholars see beauty as an oppressive system thwarting womens agency, sometimes to the point of damaging their mental health; others have promoted an understanding of beauty as an empowering practice through which women can affirm their agency and self-determination. Western beauty culture is organized by contradictory injunctions framing womens participation in beautification. Drawing on relevant scholarly literature, contemporary North American popular culture, and two years of sociological fieldwork, The Beauty Paradox begins by identifying the four main paradoxes of beauty culture: the worth paradox, the authenticity paradox, the power paradox, and the commitment paradox. Piazzesi looks at how these four paradoxes trail womens everyday experiences, choices, and reflections regarding beauty. She examines the role of beauty in womens everyday lives and in a variety of contexts: informal social encounters, work and career settings, parenting, intergenerational relationships, self-care, and online networking practices. The author supports her theoretical stance with data collected through two years of fieldwork with eleven women living in Montreal (funded by Fond du Quebec de la Recherche-Societe et culture). Participants were interviewed about their views on attractiveness, beautification, the pressure to be beautiful or to appear young, and how they negotiate these challenges on an individual basis. As part of this project, each participant produced a series of selfies, which they discussed in interviews. In a first for sociological scholarship on beauty, Walking the Tightrope foregrounds the place of attractiveness in womens visual self-expression online.
Chiara Piazzesi is Full Professor of Sociology at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Born in Florence, Italy, she received her education at the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and at the Università del Salento, where she earned her PhD. Among her publications are the books: Grammatiche dell’amore [Love Grammars] (2019) and Vers une sociologie de l’intime. Éros et socialisation [Towards a Sociology of the Intimate] (2017). Her research interests span love relationships, feminist issues, gender relations, digital practices, and the place of beauty in women’s lives. She has taught and done research in France, Germany, and Brazil.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Walking the Tightrope
Chapter One: The Paradoxes of Beauty
The Worth Paradox
The Authenticity Paradox
The Power Paradox
The Commitment Paradox
What Is a Pragmatic Paradox?
Conclusion: Negotiating the Paradoxes of Beauty
Chapter Two: Beauty, Wellness, and Authenticity
Where Is Beauty Situated?
Traditional Discourses on Beauty, Health, and Morals
The Paradoxes of Wellness and Self-Care
Natural Beauty and the Authenticity Paradox
Where Does “Feeling Beautiful” Really Come From?
Conclusion: Normative Authenticity
Chapter Three: Commitment and Investment
Investing Money and Time
The Salience of Hair and Makeup
Committing to Thinking, Planning, and Judging
The Day as a Measure of Beauty
Conclusion: How Much Is Enough?
Chapter Four: Time, Aging, and Motherhood
Being Young
Being No Longer Young
Motherhood
The Intergenerational Gaze
Conclusion: The Temporality of Beauty
Chapter Five: Work and Social Life
Beauty and Sociability
Working with Beauty
Favours and Privileges
Conclusion: Uncertain Gains
Chapter Six: Selfies and the Digital World
The Place of Beauty in Selfies
The Paradox of the “Narcissistic” Selfie
The Authenticity Paradox and the Selfie-Taking Online Persona
Conclusion: Negotiating Visibility
Conclusion: Beauty and the Paradoxes of Women’s Subjectivity
Appendix A: Introducing the Participants
Appendix B: Methodological Design and Procedure
Bibliography
In this smart and engagingly written book, Chiara Piazzesi argues that beauty is no superficial matter. Most women, even the staunchest feminists among us, gain satisfaction and confidence from beauty practices. The book invites us to look respectfully at how women of all ages and backgrounds walk a tightrope between the need for self-expression, the desire for recognition, and the pressures from social conventions. A clear and convincing call to understand the paradoxes that make women embrace the beauty culture, while, at the same time, being critical of it.
— Kathy Davis, VU University Amsterdam
A lucid exploration of women’s experience of beauty in their everyday lives: well researched, nuanced, and attuned to the paradoxes of Western beauty culture. The Beauty Paradox pinpoints the social and political dimensions of attractiveness and the influence this has on women’s daily lives.
— Christina Scharff, Kings College London
