Social and Psychological Aspects

Sexualization of Halloween Costumed Women

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Abstract

The purpose of this project was to examine how young women define the cultural ideal of female beauty in China in relation to socio-cultural changes and how they compare themselves to the contemporary definition of female beauty prevalent in the media, especially female images in magazines. Four in-depth focus-group interviews were conducted in Shanghai, China with college women of Chinese ethnicity (ages 20 to 22) enrolled at Donghua University (N = 23). Unlike the traditional Chinese preference for round faces and plump bodies, the cotemporary ideal of the female beauty seems to endorse the thin body ideal like most Western societies. Chinese young women seem to agree that magazines play a major role in shaping the female beauty ideal in contemporary Chinese society. However, they do not believe they should compare themselves to and feel pressure to look like female images in magazines as these images don't represent real people.

How to Cite:

Lennon, S. J., Fatnassi, A. & Zheng, Z., (2016) “Sexualization of Halloween Costumed Women”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 73(1).