MARIA DANIELLA B.

SANTOS |1

The Beauty in the Soul and the Strength of the Mind

The concept of beauty has surpassed numerous obstacles to get to where it is now. It

has continuously evolved to meet the aspirations of each generation. In the past, beauty was

merely being created in the image and likeness of God. As time passed, humans have found

ways to give each one the option to either enhance a feature in their body that they are proud

of or to mask whatever imperfections they have. This is more commonly known as the use of

cosmetics. More often than not, beauty is associated with women because through the course

of history, women were seen as delicate and pure which is how beauty was defined as back

then. Although in the 21st century world, beauty now comes in all forms and sizes. Beauty is

not bound to specific stereotypes anymore. Beauty became a form of self-expression in both

leisure and labor. Though the use of cosmetics is primarily to express one’s self and to boost

self-esteem, it is used to gauge the level of respect a person deserves in the workplace, and to

measure productivity levels of a working woman.

Cosmetics are products used to enhance either the appearance or the odor of the

human body. Its use dated back to the earlier civilizations such as Ancient Egypt and Ancient

Rome. In these time periods, they used different forms of cosmetics to be used in rituals, to

enhance beauty, and to promote good health. However, their source of these cosmetics was

not the forms of make-up available at present. The Ancient people used raw materials such as

thyme, lavender, rose, olive oil, sesame oil, and almond oil instead. Moreover, according to

History of Cosmetics, there was a special type of female slaves who were tasked to help their

masters to be more beautiful. These female slaves were called Cosmetae. Besides the given

purposes provided, the Chinese used to distinguish the social classes by means of the color
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that the people stained their fingernails. During the Chou Dynasty, “royals wear gold and

silver, with subsequent royals wearing black or red.” Those in the lower class were forbidden

from wearing bright colors on their nails. By doing this, the social classes were still

incredibly distinct from one another.

Looking forward from the past to what is happening at present. Cosmetics are being

used to accentuate a particular feature, to hide flaws, and to create a “character” (Stroud,

2014). In fact, the Cosmetic Industry serves as a home for the makeup brands such as Max

Factor, Avon, Maybelline, and Urban Decay. However, as mentioned above, one purpose of

Cosmetics is to hide the flaws of people. In hiding these flaws, a new version of a person is

created. Moreover, the individual upon seeing themselves with make-up, eventually is more

inclined to choose wearing make-up.

One of the reasons behind that is peer pressure. It may seem a long shot because of

how simple this is to be a factor in the situation, however—statistically speaking—this holds

true.

“Self-respect is undeniably something of great value. Perhaps those who

lack it know this best: to lose respect for oneself and then struggle to regain

it, to be robbed of one’s dignity and to try to live without it, to have to fight

to maintain a sense of one’s worth in a world that denies it, to find that

one’s self-respect is so fragile that even the most ordinary events threaten to

topple it—to live like this is to be painfully aware that a strong and

confident self-respect is vital to the ability to live a satisfying, meaningful,

flourishing life.” (Dillon, 1995).

In a study[A] made by Abigail Afable, Micaela Marie Quiambao, Kimberly Robiños,

and Raffy Jay C. Villapaña, forty respondents were asked for the reasons why they wore
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make-up. Among the three choices that were given—attraction, beauty enhancement, and

self-esteem—twenty-five out of the forty respondents chose the third option. Do the math,

and that garners a sixty-two point five percent result. If the data gathered were to be

interpreted, it would mean to say that these twenty-five people wear make-up because they

want to feel good about themselves which raises another set of questions.

What then is their point of comparison? What is the standard of beauty and who sets

this standard? The answer, though it may or may not be subtle, lies in the product itself. In

order for the cosmetic industry to continue earning money, they manipulate the people into

changing the standards of beauty over time. A few decades ago, being sexy meant that a

person had curves in all the right places. A few years back, being beautiful was being a size

zero. At present, the standards of beauty have been redirected to having pouty lips,

contouring like there’s no tomorrow, and highlighting the area around the eyes. Where else

do we get the inspiration for having these standards of beauty other than the models that were

handpicked to represent these platforms? Along the main roads in the city alone, there will

almost always be a poster or a billboard every few kilometers of a product being endorsed by

anyone in the entertainment industry. Most of the time, it is not the product alone that is

being endorsed. There are times when it is the lifestyle projected which is endorsed. By

targeting the insecurities of people, the industry is able to continuously benefit because of

how much products average citizens—specifically women—are willing to pay in order to feel

that false sense of security of fitting in with what is deemed as beautiful (Fox, 1997).

Another choice that was mentioned in the study was “beauty enhancement”. Eight out

of the remaining fifteen respondents agreed with this sentiment. Why is that? Perfectionism is

deeply rooted in each person. It may be considered one of the slightly taboo realities in life.

Perfectionism is “a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable”

(Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Through the use of cosmetics, people were able to enhance what
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they look like. In doing so, they are able to cover up their physical flaws. People with slightly

smaller eyes have mascara and eyeliner available. Those who have relatively thinner lips

have the option to use different lip products such as lipstick and lip pencils in different colors.

For blemishes such as freckles and pimples, concealer is at their reach. The list goes on and

on with how much bigger the cosmetic industry is today.

Before, there were just four key products when it came to applying make-up:

foundation, lipstick, blush-on, and mascara/eyeliner. Moreover, in the 21 st century, the

appearance of much more specific and rather complicated forms of cosmetics have been

introduced to the public such as BB creams, CC creams, primers, bronzers, and the contour

kit. Since these products are available and easily accessible to the people, there are tendencies

that so much money is spent on these products. Furthermore, since these consumers spend

their money on these beauty products, there is an enormous probability that they may end up

inefficiently allocate their money. Also, the beauty enhancement that these products were

created for may cause damage to the skin of users in the long run; especially users with

incredibly sensitive skin.

Moreover, in the study, the remaining seven respondents answered that they wore

make-up for attraction purposes. Although it was not explained what form of attraction these

respondents meant. Attraction can be classified into two smaller categories: attraction in the

relationship sense and attraction in the professional sense. Across different sources, it gave

almost the same information about how men prefer women wearing make-up than little to no

make-up. The reasoning behind it may be because that when wearing make-up, it seems as if

that a woman is presenting her best self as compared to if she had little to no facial make-up

on. Given this information, it can be inferred that physical attraction between two people can

be altered and/or influenced due to the appearance of the woman. In the professional sense

however, “employees’ attractiveness can often be an effective selling point, and part of a
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strategy to “brand” the seller through a certain look” (Rhode, 2014). Thus, physical attraction

is an advantage for companies because if the appearance of a woman manages to capture and

keep the target market, the business continues to earn more.

At the heart and soul of every solution lie not immediate and rash decisions which

may lead to violence. In its core is education and understanding. If there was someone to

blame, it could not be the cosmetic industry since some women and men are genuinely

interested in using make-up; not for their occupation but for their own contentment and self-

appreciation. It would also not be those in charge since most people have been instilled with

the patriarchal way of thinking. No one is to blame. However, it is better for all to use a tool

that may not be as immediate as violence yet may be of equal if not more. Education is still

the most that people can do in order to prevent such a thing from happening in the future. A

proposed solution/plan of action could be for gender-sensitivity seminars to be held.

By gender sensitivity, it is the level of awareness, the appreciation of the need to

maintain at reasonable levels the gender differentiation between the male and female. The

fact that to some extent, men can do what women do equally and vice-versa should be

acknowledged and understood. Although, it does not mean than women should insist on

doing everything the man does and vice-versa. Otherwise, when gender differentiations are

completely obliterated, gender sensitivity will also disappear with it. This will lead to some

un-naturalness. To remain gender sensitive, we have to keep the gender peculiarities in focus
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to a reasonable limit (N.a., 2013). According to a Gender-Sensitivity Seminar made for the

WHO/SEARO staff, they formulated a policy which says:

WHO Gender policy in year 2002:

To Contribute To Better Health For Women And Men Through Health

Research, Policies And Programs Which Gives Due Attention To Gender

And Promote Equality And Equity Between Men And Women

One of its objectives is to promote health equity and gender equality between men and

women throughout the life course. In the presentation, it clearly distinguishes Gender

Equality from Gender Equity which will lead to advocating and practicing both human and

women’s rights (WHO, 2016). In a forum facilitated by The Rappler on gender and job

security shows that women from different sectors continue to experience discrimination and

abuse in the workplace, Senator Pia Cayetano said that giving men and women identical

rights is not the same as giving them equal opportunities. The whole society needs to adapt its

mindset to understand what women really need. Furthermore, she strengthened her point by

saying that “[s]ociety must step up and say ‘we must bend the rules’ in order for women to

have equal opportunities” (Garcia, 2014).