Abstract
Eurocentric discourses of beauty have been historically dominant in South African society. As a result, phenotypical features (darker skin tone, fuller lips, and unstraightened hair) typical to Black women have been devalued. Thus, Black women are inclined to pursue dominant beauty ideals by practising extreme (invasive but not surgical) beauty-modification techniques (such as chemical skin bleaching and strenuous hair straightening). Although academic enquiry has examined effects of dominant beauty ideals on Black women, little analysis has been directed at how these ideals are reproduced in South African media, particularly in newspapers. Moreover, even less academic attention has focused on beautification practices by Black women in South African newspapers. Newspapers as a genre, might be expected to offer both criticisms and appraisals of black beauty and beautification practices. Located within social psychology, this study adopted a discursive approach to investigate representations of Black women's beautification practices in South African newspapers (1994 to 2015). In the eight newspaper reports analysed, the following discourses were identified: Commercialisation, Chemical Opportunity versus Chemical Harm, Empowerment, and Activism. Within these discourses, Black women were positioned along three subject positions: The Empowered Black Woman, The Alchemist, and The Activist. From the discourses and subject positions, a key finding was that Black women are constructed as actively engaging in beautification that achieves artificial beauty equivalent to a standard of Eurocentric beauty ideals. This was represented as a way for Black women to feel empowered and to be recognised. This was also represented as devaluing and physically harmful to the features natural to Black women.
M.A. (Clinical Psychology)