Investigating the body self-relationship in young Black South African women.

[摘要] The purpose of this research was to investigate contemporary conceptions of beauty and bodilymodificatory behaviour of young, Black, South African women. In a society where a lot ofemphasis has been placed on a woman’s physical appearance, it was important to determine howthese young women feel about their bodily appearance and if whether this is influenced by theirsocial milieu. Constructions of beauty are largely constructed around White womanhood, thusBlack women might feel marginalised by the White majority’s Western beauty standards. Datafor 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. Theparticipants received a 1% incentive for their participation which contributed to their end ofsemester mark. The findings of the study show that conformity to Western standards of beautyhas a negative bearing on the participants perceptions of how they feel about their bodies. Themedia has also become influential in changing perceptions of beauty within Black South Africancontemporary culture. Salient features of beauty, such as hair and skin colour seem to beembedded in the historical processes of oppression.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand