A close shave: The taboo on female body hair - Anneke Smelik
Anneke Smelik specifically talks about body hair within this chapter of her book, however, she comments on and quotes about the idea of self-identity and construction of your looks using hair itself (whether its removal of body hair or use of head hair). Further on within this project, I may look into body hair and how it is manipulated to help construct and create ones identity, but for now the focus is mainly on head hair. She cites Leach, Hollander and Lesnik-Oberstein (all theorists writing about the body in relation to hair), stating that “head hair is a sign of health, power, youth, vitality and attractiveness (Leach 1958), while hair on the body is traditionally connoted as dirty, ugly, superfluous, sexual and animalistic (Hollander 1993; Lesnik-Oberstein 2006)”.
Smelik quotes "The new beauty ideal requires techniques of control, manipulation and self-improvement.", commenting on the fact that our bodies require work to be 'ideal', and for me this relates back to my idea that we use what we have to create our ideal looks, our ideal identity, including how we use the hair we are given and manipulate it into something that we feel relates more to how we want to be perceived. She also cites Chris Shilling who states that "In the affluent West, there is a tendency for the body to be seen as an entity which is in the process of becoming; a project which should be worked at and accomplished as part of an individual’s self-identity’.”. Again, both Smelik and Shilling make the comment that the body will always be altered, whether its through hair, cosmetic surgery, make up, alongside many other things. Here they also comment on how one can alter their body to create their own self-identity, which is what I believe within my project, that hair can help shape that, literally by how you shape it itself.
Smelik quotes "The new beauty ideal requires techniques of control, manipulation and self-improvement.", commenting on the fact that our bodies require work to be 'ideal', and for me this relates back to my idea that we use what we have to create our ideal looks, our ideal identity, including how we use the hair we are given and manipulate it into something that we feel relates more to how we want to be perceived. She also cites Chris Shilling who states that "In the affluent West, there is a tendency for the body to be seen as an entity which is in the process of becoming; a project which should be worked at and accomplished as part of an individual’s self-identity’.”. Again, both Smelik and Shilling make the comment that the body will always be altered, whether its through hair, cosmetic surgery, make up, alongside many other things. Here they also comment on how one can alter their body to create their own self-identity, which is what I believe within my project, that hair can help shape that, literally by how you shape it itself.
The Media & Body Image - Maggie Wykes & Barrie Gunter
Wykes and Gunter focus on how the media portrays the body to the actual people, agreeing with and citing Susie Orbach from Fat is a Feminist Issue saying that "the medias view of ideal femininity as ‘thin, free of unwanted hair, deodorised, perfumed and clothed … It must conform to an ideal physical type.’". Here I have focused on the quotes to do with the ideal female, mainly due to the fact that I have photographed more women than men and have had feedback from them in terms of the many ways they can construct their images using their hair, or removing their body hair, which this quote also focuses on. The idea that the media portray this perfect type which everyone must conform to influences the way people 'wear' or 'don't wear' their hair, so that they can create the suitable identity in line with what the media has to say about identity. After reading these different books on hair and body hair, and its relationship with identity, I realised how important it seems to be to people to have good looking hair, because the hair is something that they can always rely on to use as an accessory, most people don't have to go out and buy it to change their look. However, this depends on the identity they want to create, and whether the medias ideals run alongside their looks, as many black men and women have commented on that the media suppress their natural hairstyles, making them construct their hair in extreme ways to fit in with what society says is right. Wykes and Gunter go onto mentioning this self-image idea in relation to personal and societal ideals, stating that "The core of body image dissatisfaction has been located within a discrepancy between the perceived self and ideal self. The ideal self-image may be considered as either and ‘internal ideal’ or a ‘societal ideal’ resulting from the dictates of the surrounding cultural and societal environment as to what constitutes the perfect body.". This relates back to my project in the fact that people construct their hair in different ways depending on their own personal preference and the preference in the culture they ahem been brought up in. I feel as though after reading through these books, I should ask people why they wear their hair the way they do, and whether they were inspired by images of hairstyles on celebrities, models, hair magazines or whether then choice was theirs alone? This I will now start doing in my next shoots, maybe just as research but it could be included in the work at a later date with quotes alongside the images.
Media Culture – Cultural studies, identity and politics between the modern and the postmodern - Douglas Kellner
Kellner goes on from Wykes and Gunter, expanding on the idea of identity being a personal thing, by stating that “identity [is] an existential project…The existential self is always fragile and requires commitment, resolve, and action to sustain, thus making the creation of identity an existential project for each individual.”. He believes that each person creates their image for their own certain reason, whether it is to do with main stream media images or not, but that each person has their own project which they work at throughout their life to create their perfect identity. In relation to hair, this comments on the idea that hair is always growing and changing, and means that this project needs work to maintain, and changes over time, so one day you'll 'wear' your hair one way and the next its completely different. The idea that the materiality of hair is a major factor in its construction relates back to his point that 'the existential self is always fragile' as it is material rather than solid and can be changed, warped and manipulated time and time again, changing the hairstyles to create different identities and personalities, depending on time, place and feeling. This could lead onto a visual creation, asking people to pose wearing their hair as they would on a 'normal' day and then getting them to make it look as though they would call it 'perfect' and see the difference these two hairstyles create to their identity and personality. “One can choose and make – and then remake – one’s identity as one’s life-possibilities change and expand or contract…one must gain recognition to assume a socially validated, recognized identity.”
Kellner also comments on the fact that the media has obviously influenced this "implosion of identity" and the fact that we use the media in the way it wants us to, where it uses “images [to] associate the products advertised with certain socially desirable traits and convey messages concerning the symbolic benefits accrued to those who consume the product.” They “advertisers use the symbolic constructs with which the consumer is invited to identify to try to induce her to use their product.”. He also states that “advertisers use the symbolic constructs with which the consumer is invited to identify to try to induce her to use their product.”. This is a well known fact, as otherwise adverts would not work the way they do, enticing you in with objects that have connotations that relate to the audience its targeting. However, after some brain-storming, I was suggested to look into advertising lighting for my visual work, in a way of using the lighting to take the mick. Ironically use the studio lights in the way adverts do, to try to advertise the collected hair I have and make it beautiful, try to sell this hair in the same way adverts do to hair thats actually on the head. Kellner's writing made me realise that these adverts that entice you with nice looking images, I can actually use to my advantage, and I can try and induce people into wanting to buy something that people actually consider gross and dirty (hair once it's off he head).
Kellner also comments on the fact that the media has obviously influenced this "implosion of identity" and the fact that we use the media in the way it wants us to, where it uses “images [to] associate the products advertised with certain socially desirable traits and convey messages concerning the symbolic benefits accrued to those who consume the product.” They “advertisers use the symbolic constructs with which the consumer is invited to identify to try to induce her to use their product.”. He also states that “advertisers use the symbolic constructs with which the consumer is invited to identify to try to induce her to use their product.”. This is a well known fact, as otherwise adverts would not work the way they do, enticing you in with objects that have connotations that relate to the audience its targeting. However, after some brain-storming, I was suggested to look into advertising lighting for my visual work, in a way of using the lighting to take the mick. Ironically use the studio lights in the way adverts do, to try to advertise the collected hair I have and make it beautiful, try to sell this hair in the same way adverts do to hair thats actually on the head. Kellner's writing made me realise that these adverts that entice you with nice looking images, I can actually use to my advantage, and I can try and induce people into wanting to buy something that people actually consider gross and dirty (hair once it's off he head).