This course is designed to be a research course for African American and Africana Studies that explores theories associated with the politics of physical appearances in American culture. This course will explore the norms and politics associated with beauty, particularly the female body, has been expressed as an extension of beauty politics that emerge in philosophy, cultural studies, history, and visual culture.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Who Are You Looking At? - Research Considerations for AAS401-Politics of Physical Appearance
Greetings, Ladies.
We are discussing our research interests. Please take a moment to post a summary of your abstracts. Take a moment to discuss how it connects with other theories we are exploring in the course.
Using quantitative research, such as statistics, within a research study I have done, I plan on researching the question of: Are men interested (dating) women based on industry standards or personal preference? In my reasearch im going to be looking into beauty within the media and how society's view of beauty affects people's personal preference. I want to discuss the difference between the standards of beauty within Black and White cultures, my focus mainly assessing Black Femininity.
My research topic relates to many theories that we have discussed in class, especislly about beauty and Black Femininity. We have discussed how society plays a major role in how people view beauty and femininity, and I wanted discuss more of society's role in how people are socialized since they were younger to view beauty a certain way. We have discussed a term called pretty patrolling, and this term basically explains the constant patrolling of beauty throught our society. Many of the topics we have discussed in class about beauty and femininity can have an effect on how men choose women to date or are interested in.
I will be mainly using the qualitative and descriptive research methods, by interviewing men and women of different complexions and from the black and biracial background to ask the following questions, I plan on adding or possibly changing few questions to get more specific responses while trying not to lead the people I’m interviewing into responding a certain way.
1. Do you feel having light/dark complexion had an impact on your family or any family relationship? 2. Was complexion something that was ever discussed in your family? What was the context? 3. Do you come from a family where siblings or cousins had complexions that varied? If so did you notice any special treatment towards one based on complexion whether the person had lighter or darker skin? 4. Did your family seem to have a preference of complexions? 5. Would your family be more likely to approve or disapprove if you were to date/marry/have children with someone of a certain tone?
My research topic also relates to beauty and femininity. We have discussed how society has the pretty police and how media usually shows women who are non-white and considered beautiful generally have lighter skin and fit into the ideal appearance that men and mainly women are held to. I want to link it to how colorism could possibly affect a family and its structure. I am going to try and interview men and women who are black, biracial and possibly another racial background (maybe Hispanic, Asian or Indian) and hear some of their stories that relate to how colorism affects families of color. I want to see how that is affecting families of color.
I will be using qualitative study that will involve the implement of survey garnered to college aged Black women. In this study I will looking at the relationships between Black women media representation and the related affects to Black girls perception of their own beauty. I'm focusing on how the lack of representation do negatively affect perception of how beautiful/physically attractive they feel they are because of this.
My research topic relates to our discussion on beauty and how beauty is policed in society. Using pretty policing in the media with only having white or light skinned women represented and praising eurocentric beauty or features in our own communities hinders Black girls self esteem and view of their own beauty. Having to accept that Eurocentric beauty is normal and right leaves no room for accepting Black as beautiful without representing that and reinforcing it. I want to show that Black women in the media matters to Black girls, because representation matters.
Using quantitative research, such as statistics, within a research study I have done, I plan on researching the question of: Are men interested (dating) women based on industry standards or personal preference? In my reasearch im going to be looking into beauty within the media and how society's view of beauty affects people's personal preference. I want to discuss the difference between the standards of beauty within Black and White cultures, my focus mainly assessing Black Femininity.
ReplyDeleteMy research topic relates to many theories that we have discussed in class, especislly about beauty and Black Femininity. We have discussed how society plays a major role in how people view beauty and femininity, and I wanted discuss more of society's role in how people are socialized since they were younger to view beauty a certain way. We have discussed a term called pretty patrolling, and this term basically explains the constant patrolling of beauty throught our society. Many of the topics we have discussed in class about beauty and femininity can have an effect on how men choose women to date or are interested in.
I will be mainly using the qualitative and descriptive research methods, by interviewing men and women of different complexions and from the black and biracial background to ask the following questions, I plan on adding or possibly changing few questions to get more specific responses while trying not to lead the people I’m interviewing into responding a certain way.
ReplyDelete1. Do you feel having light/dark complexion had an impact on your family or any family relationship?
2. Was complexion something that was ever discussed in your family? What was the context?
3. Do you come from a family where siblings or cousins had complexions that varied? If so did you notice any special treatment towards one based on complexion whether the person had lighter or darker skin?
4. Did your family seem to have a preference of complexions?
5. Would your family be more likely to approve or disapprove if you were to date/marry/have children with someone of a certain tone?
My research topic also relates to beauty and femininity. We have discussed how society has the pretty police and how media usually shows women who are non-white and considered beautiful generally have lighter skin and fit into the ideal appearance that men and mainly women are held to. I want to link it to how colorism could possibly affect a family and its structure. I am going to try and interview men and women who are black, biracial and possibly another racial background (maybe Hispanic, Asian or Indian) and hear some of their stories that relate to how colorism affects families of color. I want to see how that is affecting families of color.
I will be using qualitative study that will involve the implement of survey garnered to college aged Black women. In this study I will looking at the relationships between Black women media representation and the related affects to Black girls perception of their own beauty. I'm focusing on how the lack of representation do negatively affect perception of how beautiful/physically attractive they feel they are because of this.
ReplyDeleteMy research topic relates to our discussion on beauty and how beauty is policed in society. Using pretty policing in the media with only having white or light skinned women represented and praising eurocentric beauty or features in our own communities hinders Black girls self esteem and view of their own beauty. Having to accept that Eurocentric beauty is normal and right leaves no room for accepting Black as beautiful without representing that and reinforcing it. I want to show that Black women in the media
matters to Black girls, because representation matters.