Ideals of Beauty and Body Modification

1. Ideals of Beauty and Body Modification

2. What trends are students attracted to? What trends do they think improve their appearance? • Dyeing their hair • Wearing tight pants • Wearing makeup • Piercing their ears • Wearing black • Wearing nail polish on their fingers and toes • Getting their hair styled • ????

3. Why is it done? Social status Cultural belongings Needing to explore Show individualism To fit in Seek recognition Religious affiliations

4. Historical Ideals of Beauty • Ancient Greeks valued symmetry • Contemporary definitions similar: • “Ideal woman”: small chin, delicate jaws, full lips, small nose, high cheek bones, large and widely spaced eyes, and waist:hip ratio of 0.7 • “Ideal man”: taller, waist:hip ratio of 0.9, dominant/rectangular face/chin, deep-set eyes, heavy brow • Suggests strong supply of testosterone

5. “Ugly” • Common first name in Ancient Greece, parts of sub-Saharan Africa • Idea: give children bad names so demons won’t find them • Other favorites: “Disagreeable,” “Crippled”

6. Historical Ideals of Beauty • Chinese foot binding • pain, osteoporosis, falls/imbalance • Surgery to reshape women’s feet for stiletto heels increasingly popular • Ancient Greek newborn female baby wrapping

7. Historical Ideals of Beauty • Ancient Roman women colored their lips with red cinnabar stone, a type of mercury ore, lined their faces with white lead, and rouged their cheeks with red lead • Ancient Egyptians/Roman/Persians: antimony for conjunctival sparkle • Rome to medieval Europe: paleness preferred

8. Historical Ideals of Beauty • Elizabethan hair plucking, ceruse makeup • Court of Louis XVI: blue veins drawn on neck and shoulders to emphasize noble blood • 16th & 17th century: belladona eye drops

9. Historical Ideals of Beauty • 18th Century: vermillion makeup (sulfur and mercury) • 14th - 19th century: corsetting (whalebone and steel) – precursor to the girdle • Making a comeback at both high- and low-end retailers (takes up to 30 minutes to lace up; requires an extra set of hands)

10. Historical Ideals of Beauty • Unibrow: • Sign of criminal tendencies in Victorian England • Mark of beauty in contemporary Iran • Breast implants (since 1903 - Charles Miller, MD) • First silicone breast enlargement 1962

11. Contemporary Ideals of Beauty • “Better Baby Contests” – Eugenic Movement / Social Darwinism • Tapeworms (Maria Callas) • Rib removal (Cher?)

12. Contemporary Ideals of Beauty • Botox injections • Plastic surgery • Abusive subjugation of women through body modification – female genital mutilation • Cultural components

13. Ideals of Beauty • Brass neck rings (Paduang people of Burma) • Lip and earlobe expanders (certain African tribes) • Tattoos, body piercings

14. Ideals ofBeauty • Wonderbra, Brava Bra ($2500, suction device worn overnight for 10 weeks, promises 1 cup increase (actual increase ½ cup size), can cause broken blood vessels, skin rash, discomfort) • Wonderbum pantyhose (DuPont Lycra) – promises a “perfectly peachy, pert bottom” • Music industry depictions of beauty

15. Ideals of Beauty • Ancient Greeks – symmetry • Remains true • Familiarity, personality traits also important • Evolutionary adaptation for survival of human species • Size, muscle power, pathogen-free status, fertility

16. The Perks of Beauty • The good-looking are more likely to get married, be hired, get paid more, and be promoted sooner • Height is associated with income and leadership positions • Strangers are more likely to assist good-looking people in distress

17. The Perks of Beauty • The pretty/handsome are less likely to be reported, caught, accused, or punished for a minor or major crime • Role of ageism (more important for women) • The responsibility: • Attractiveness is recognized as a special gift, and its misuse is not tolerated

18. Cosmetics • Concocted at home prior to 20th Century • Industry spawned by: • “Allure” of prostitutes/sexuality • Mass popularity of anti-aging products in 1920s • Women entering workforce • Migrations to cities • Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (1938)

19. Cosmetics • Global beauty products spending = $265 billion • MUCH more than the amount needed each year (in addition to current expenditures) to provide water and sanitation for all people in developing nations • AND needed each year (in addition to current expenditures) to provide reproductive healthcare for all women in developing countries

20. Cosmetics • Average American adult uses 9 personal care products/day (with 126 unique chemical ingredients) • 89% of the over 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products never tested for toxicity • Little FDA oversight

21. Cosmetics • Unusual ingredients include: • Cow colostrum • Gold • Foreskin • Placenta • Fetal cells

22. Cosmetics and Hair Coloring • Women devote average of 19 minutes per day to treating and altering their faces • 55% of American women between 13 and 70 color their hair • 1/8 American men between 16 and 60

23. Tanning • The skin’s response to ultraviolet light injury • No such thing as a “safe tan” • 95% of Americans understand that sunburns are dangerous, but 81% still think they look better with a tan.

24. Artificial Tanning • 47% of college students use a tanning lamp each year (females more than males) • 39% have never used a tanning lamp • More than 90% of users are aware that premature aging and skin cancer are possible complications of tanning lamp use • WHO: tanning beds cause cancer

25. Tanning • Tanning as a substance abuse-like disorder • Tanning produces endorphins • Most countries do not limit access of youths to tanning parlors • SPF of at least 15 should be worn when outdoors (and re-applied frequently)

26. Artificial Tanning • Many lotions and creams available • Burgeoning industry • “Natural” does not necessarily mean safe

27. Tattooing • Tattoo from Tahitian word “tatau” (“to mark”) • Reached apogee among Maori • Popularized in West by sailors returning from Polynesia

28. Tattoos A permanent mark made when ink is inserted into the dermis layer of the skin.

29. Tattooing • Aesthetic choice • Initiation rite • Time-saving way for disabled to overcome difficulties of applying makeup

30. Tattooing • 30 million Americans have tattoos • Ancient practice: Maori tribesmen, Thracian women of 5th Century Greece • Tattooing still illegal in South Carolina and Oklahoma

31. Tattooing • More than 50 different pigments and shades employed • None approved for skin injection • Some industrial grade printer’s ink or automobile paint

32. The Fringes • Anal bleaching • Initially porn stars and sex workers • Now available to general public for $75/treatment • Can cause eczema • Money: Jim Nelson auctioned off his head on eBay for a corporate logo tattoo in 2003

33. Risks of Tattooing • Tattooing associated with risky behaviors in adolescents • Infection • e.g., hepatitis B, C, and HIV • Am Assn Blood Banks requires one-year wait between getting tattoo and donating blood • Removal problems • Allergic reactions

34. Risks of Tattooing • Granulomas • Keloid formation • MRI complications • Swellings/burns • Image quality suffers (particularly with permanent mascara)

35. The Most Common Problem:Dissatisfaction • 17% of those tattooed later regret it • Chief reason = the person’s name in the tattoo • Practitioners’ skill levels vary widely • Fading with time • Blurring when injections too deep

36. The Most Common Problem:Dissatisfaction • Human body changes with time • Styles come and go • With facial cosmetic surgery, appearance of tattoos and permanent makeup may become distorted

37. Tattoo Removal Techniques • Laser treatments • Dermabrasion • Scarification • Surgical Removal • Camouflaging

38. Dermabrasion -- ‘sanded’ out Excision -- piece is cut out Laser -- breaks up tattoo pigment Removal

39. Removal facts Anesthetic will be applied either topical or injection prior to removal Black is easiest to remove Multiple sessions are required Will cost more than the actual tattoo • 1-10 sessions at $200 - $900 per session Hyperpigmentation & Hypopigmentation may occur

40. Possible risks Viral infections -- Hepatitis Local infections Allergic reactions Scarring

41. Temporary Tattoos • Fade after several days • Allergic reactions • FDA alert re risks with foreign-made products • Freedom-2 Ink: Biodegradable dye capsules – when zapped by laser, dyes absorbed by body and tattoo disappears

42. Risks of Henna Tattoos • Henna products risky • Henna approved for use as a hair dye, not for injection into the skin • Produces a reddish-brown tint, raising questions about what ingredients are added to produce the varieties of colors labeled as henna (e.g., “black henna,” “blue henna”

43. Piercing Acceptable form of body decoration Applied with a hollow point gun or needle Risks include Viral infections Local infections Abscess Allergic reactions Bleeding Rejection Dental damage

44. Cutting & Burning Most commonly due to unhealthy coping mechanisms Peer pressure can also influence More common in females than males Risks include: infections, mutilation or death Scarification is a permanent body modification that uses scar tissue produced by the body to form designs, pictures, or words in the skin. Scars are formed by cutting or branding the skin.

45. Botox • Botulinum toxin: • Cause of botulism • potential biowarfare/bioterror agent • Medical Uses: migraines, back spasms, chronic pain, wrinkles due to normal aging • Unlikely to work on sun- or smoking-induced wrinkles

46. Botox • 8 million procedures (costing over $4 billion) • Large direct-to-consumer ad campaign • $80/dose + physician’s fee ($600-800 avg.)

47. Botox • Most users white, age 35-50 • 12% are men • In-home Botox parties; Botox scams • Hollywood actors

48. Botox • Re-treatments required every 4 months • Side effects: muscle weakness, masklike facies, drooling, slurred speech, aspiration, rare allergic reactions; may spread via neurons back to spinal cord or even CNS • 87 hospitalizations, 16 deaths reported 1997-2006 • FDA boxed warning 2009

49. Rivals to Botox • Collagen injections (from cows, possible allergic responses) • Perlane (“natural” collagen alternative from human tissue) • Fat injections • Face lift/eyelid surgery

50. Dermal Fillers • Alternative to botox • Cow collagen, liquid silicone, plastic microbeads, synthetic bone and ground-up human cadaver skin (association with for-profit tissue banks)