Beauty Saves the World
Hedwig, or ‘Heddie’ Waters, has clearly done some thorough research on her investigation into the modern beauty ideals of Mongolian society.
Her lecture, presented at the University of Science and Technology yesterday, gave a whirlwind overview on a yearlong study, concerning who and what is considered beautiful and how feminine body image ideals have changed over centuries.
The audience was given an analysis of the changing face of feminine beauty, from the pre-socialist period to the present day.
Waters began by explaining that throughout history, women who were large or full in figure, symbolised wealth and success, particularly during times of food shortage.
Over time however, this has reversed, to a current complex and obsession with ‘thinness’.
Through examples of pre-socialist texts, which praised plump women who had full, rosy cheeks, Waters demonstrated that being fat was a positive attribute. An ample figure epitomised good health and fertility.
During the Socialist era, beauty was influenced by state ideology, and was ascertained on an internal, ‘collective’ level. If a woman was hard working, modest, industrious and scholarly, she was considered attractive.
Today, in the free-market, the previously perfect picture of a comely, round, chubby-cheeked woman has disappeared, replaced by a tall, shapely woman, who, in order to be regarded as beautiful, should comprise specific facial and body features.
Waters explained that when she arrived in Mongolia, she was shocked by how people elevated the notion of being ‘good-looking’, and ultimately, physical attractiveness is essential if one wants to be successful in Mongolia’s modern society.
The surprising fact of Waters’ lecture, was that today, the ‘look’ of Caucasian women, is venerated by their Mongolian counterparts. Large eyes, a high, protruding nose and oval or heart shaped face, are considered great assets.
This was backed up by research regarding the recent popularity with plastic surgery. The most common operation is currently a ‘double eye lid’ procedure (creating an eye-lid), closely followed by a nose job.
80 percent of Waters’ survey participants stated they preferred Caucasian features. When presented with Caucasian and Asian facial images, there was a clear, dominant preference, which went against a typically Asian countenance.
Despite this, a positive 65 per cent of women questioned, answered positively to Waters’ question: ‘Do you think you’re beautiful?’, illustrating that regardless of modern day pressures, there seems to be an underlying self-confidence in body image, much more so than in comparison with Western women.
Waters also made a distinction between the ideals of nomadic, countryside dwellers, and those living in the city. The predominant difference being that city women were more likely to be influenced by western media and to covet the looks of a model.
In the countryside, although standards have changed, the soviet influenced ideals of a physically strong and hard-working woman are still deemed important and are in fact essential attributes for the laborious life of a herder.
One quote that raised a laugh was that of herder, who claimed models looked like ‘melted candles’.
Waters put her research across confidently and it was a well-structured lecture, which ultimately claimed that beauty is vastly changing under the modernization, westernization and economic changes occurring in Mongolia.
When asked how she found the experience of researching female body and beauty ideals, she answered ‘incredibly motivating and inspiring’. Although there had been obstacles, mainly due to the fact that the delicate topic was often tricky to navigate, overall she felt ‘inspired’ and is consequently fascinated to see to what extent, as wealth in Mongolia increases, traditional ideals of beauty will be replaced by imported ones.
Her lecture, presented at the University of Science and Technology yesterday, gave a whirlwind overview on a yearlong study, concerning who and what is considered beautiful and how feminine body image ideals have changed over centuries.
The audience was given an analysis of the changing face of feminine beauty, from the pre-socialist period to the present day.
Waters began by explaining that throughout history, women who were large or full in figure, symbolised wealth and success, particularly during times of food shortage.
Over time however, this has reversed, to a current complex and obsession with ‘thinness’.
Through examples of pre-socialist texts, which praised plump women who had full, rosy cheeks, Waters demonstrated that being fat was a positive attribute. An ample figure epitomised good health and fertility.
During the Socialist era, beauty was influenced by state ideology, and was ascertained on an internal, ‘collective’ level. If a woman was hard working, modest, industrious and scholarly, she was considered attractive.
Today, in the free-market, the previously perfect picture of a comely, round, chubby-cheeked woman has disappeared, replaced by a tall, shapely woman, who, in order to be regarded as beautiful, should comprise specific facial and body features.
Waters explained that when she arrived in Mongolia, she was shocked by how people elevated the notion of being ‘good-looking’, and ultimately, physical attractiveness is essential if one wants to be successful in Mongolia’s modern society.
The surprising fact of Waters’ lecture, was that today, the ‘look’ of Caucasian women, is venerated by their Mongolian counterparts. Large eyes, a high, protruding nose and oval or heart shaped face, are considered great assets.
This was backed up by research regarding the recent popularity with plastic surgery. The most common operation is currently a ‘double eye lid’ procedure (creating an eye-lid), closely followed by a nose job.
80 percent of Waters’ survey participants stated they preferred Caucasian features. When presented with Caucasian and Asian facial images, there was a clear, dominant preference, which went against a typically Asian countenance.
Despite this, a positive 65 per cent of women questioned, answered positively to Waters’ question: ‘Do you think you’re beautiful?’, illustrating that regardless of modern day pressures, there seems to be an underlying self-confidence in body image, much more so than in comparison with Western women.
Waters also made a distinction between the ideals of nomadic, countryside dwellers, and those living in the city. The predominant difference being that city women were more likely to be influenced by western media and to covet the looks of a model.
In the countryside, although standards have changed, the soviet influenced ideals of a physically strong and hard-working woman are still deemed important and are in fact essential attributes for the laborious life of a herder.
One quote that raised a laugh was that of herder, who claimed models looked like ‘melted candles’.
Waters put her research across confidently and it was a well-structured lecture, which ultimately claimed that beauty is vastly changing under the modernization, westernization and economic changes occurring in Mongolia.
When asked how she found the experience of researching female body and beauty ideals, she answered ‘incredibly motivating and inspiring’. Although there had been obstacles, mainly due to the fact that the delicate topic was often tricky to navigate, overall she felt ‘inspired’ and is consequently fascinated to see to what extent, as wealth in Mongolia increases, traditional ideals of beauty will be replaced by imported ones.
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