<p>The purpose of the study was to inquire into pupils’ attitude towards the current beauty ideal from a gender- and an ethnicity perspective. The study was based on a quantitative survey among 116 young students about prevailing beauty ideal from two different schools in the Stockholm area. The result showed that the students are partially characterized by the stereotyped images of women and men but that there are tendencies towards another view especially among the girls. It is however clear that appearance still is important. A majority of the boys agreed in the statements that it is important to have a good-looking girlfriend and that girls should be thin. Both sexes believed that a person who is beautiful gets better treatment. Both also agreed in the statement that boys should be well trained. Most of the students are however satisfied with their own appearance and body and would not want to change. The study has shown that there are differences in attitudes when it comes to both gender and ethnicity. The emerged results were introduced in three different themes and were analyzed on the basis of gender-theory and metacognition and were compared with prior research, which showed that there were both similarities and differences.</p>

The purpose of the study was to inquire into pupils’ attitude towards the current beauty ideal from a gender- and an ethnicity perspective. The study was based on a quantitative survey among 116 young students about prevailing beauty ideal from two different schools in the Stockholm area. The result showed that the students are partially characterized by the stereotyped images of women and men but that there are tendencies towards another view especially among the girls. It is however clear that appearance still is important. A majority of the boys agreed in the statements that it is important to have a good-looking girlfriend and that girls should be thin. Both sexes believed that a person who is beautiful gets better treatment. Both also agreed in the statement that boys should be well trained. Most of the students are however satisfied with their own appearance and body and would not want to change. The study has shown that there are differences in attitudes when it comes to both gender and ethnicity. The emerged results were introduced in three different themes and were analyzed on the basis of gender-theory and metacognition and were compared with prior research, which showed that there were both similarities and differences.