Feminist Pleasure and Feminine Beautification

Hypatia 18 (4):42-64 (2003)
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Abstract

This paper explores the conditions under which feminine beautification constitutes a feminist practice. Distinguishing between the process and product of beautification allows us to isolate those aesthetic, interapos;Subjective, and embodied elements that empower rather than disempower women. The empowering characteristics of beautification, however, are difficult and perhaps impossible to represent in a sexist context; therefore, while beautifying may be a positive experience for women, being viewed as a beautified object in current Western society is almost always opposed to women's equality and autonomy.

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Ann Cahill
Elon College

Citations of this work

Personal Beauty and Personal Agency.Madeline Martin-Seaver - 2023 - Philosophy Compass 18 (12):e12953.
Feminism and Aesthetics.Peg Brand - 2006 - In Kittay Eva Feder & Martín Alcoff Linda (eds.), The Blackwell Guide to Feminist Philosophy. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 254–265.

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References found in this work

Poetry, Language, Thought.Martin Heidegger - 1971 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 31 (1):117-123.
On Beauty and Being Just.Elaine Scarry - 1999 - Princeton University Press.
Rethinking Rape.Ann J. Cahill - 2001 - Cornell University Press.

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