Orange County Register

Have you faced discrimination based on your physical appearance?

That’s one of several questions the YWCA raised in a discussion guide it published along with its “Beauty at Any Cost” report on the effects of Americans’ pursuit of beauty.

Such discrimination can be negative — perhaps you lost out to a prettier person in competition for a job you were most qualified for. It can also be positive — perhaps you’re the pretty face that won a job on the basis of your good looks.

Readers of In Your Face can answer that question in this reader survey:

Below are some other questions from the YWCA discussion guide about American women’s attitudes about their appearance:

IMAGE AND COMMUNICATION

• What women do you think are beautiful? Why?
• Do you think you are beautiful? Why?
• What messages did your family communicate to you about female beauty? About your beauty?
• How do you talk about other women’s beauty to other women? To men?

PERSONAL EFFECTS

• Do you ever feel pressure to change your looks/body to be more “beautiful”?
• Do you feel manipulated by the beauty and cosmetic industries to buy their products?
• How have you been personally affected by America’s obsession with idealized female beauty?
• Have you ever experienced any form of discrimination based on your physical appearance?
• Have you ever experienced low self-esteem or felt insecure because of your physical appearance?

OPINIONS

• What do you think of the dramatic increases in cosmetic surgeries and procedures?
• Do Americans have an unhealthy obsession with female beauty?
• Do you think employers intentionally discriminate based on a woman’s physical appearance?
• What role do the cosmetic industry, media, dieting, and fashion industries play in fostering low self-esteem in women? What motivates them to do this?
• When does the pursuit of female beauty cross the line into unhealthy behavior?

CAUSES AND CHANGES

• What role do women’s magazines play in promoting idealized female beauty?
• What role do pornography and men’s magazines play in promoting idealized female beauty?
• Do you think the FDA should more rigorously regulate cosmetics?
• Do you think it is possible to change the way that Americans define female beauty? If yes, how would you make this happen?

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