The purpose of this research was to investigate contemporary conceptions of beauty and bodily
modificatory behaviour of young, Black, South African women. In a society where a lot of
emphasis has been placed on a woman’s physical appearance, it was important to determine how
these young women feel about their bodily appearance and if whether this is influenced by their
social milieu. Constructions of beauty are largely constructed around White womanhood, thus
Black women might feel marginalised by the White majority’s Western beauty standards. Data
for this research report was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with six female,
Black South African, first year psychology students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The
participants received a 1% incentive for their participation which contributed to their end of
semester mark. The findings of the study show that conformity to Western standards of beauty
has a negative bearing on the participants perceptions of how they feel about their bodies. The
media has also become influential in changing perceptions of beauty within Black South African
contemporary culture. Salient features of beauty, such as hair and skin colour seem to be
embedded in the historical processes of oppression.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/14748 |
| Date | 12 June 2014 |
| Creators | Shelembe, Thulisile Buhle |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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