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Dating apps: A platform for appearance pressures and racism

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First published at The Conversation here. As the dating app  Tinder turns five , new research shows  men who regularly use the app  have more body image concerns and lower self-esteem. The research  found Tinder users reported lower levels of satisfaction with their faces and higher levels of shame about their bodies. And users were also more likely to view their bodies as sexual objects. This is hardly surprising given that Tinder�s �evaluative factors� have the potential to intensify preexisting cultural beauty ideals. The app�s �swipe right to dismiss� facility, along with the limited number of words a user can write on their profile means appearance take centre stage. In other words, the  more conventionally attractive your photos are , the more likely you are to be clicked, swiped or hit upon by other users. But whether men use Tinder or not, most will  report  dissatisfaction with some aspect of their appearance. This could be anything from heigh...
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Can you be a feminist and wear make-up?

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There is scholarly and popular debate over whether one can be simultaneously consider oneself a feminist and engage in commercial beautifying rituals such as wearing make-up, high heels, or be interested in fashion. Although we may technically be in an era of fourth-wave feminism, the dispute between �third-wave� feminists and �second-wave� feminists on female consumerism remains largely unresolved. Second-wave� feminism is often characterised by the critique of the portrayal of women in the media and advertising thanks to the iconic work of leading feminists of the day to include Betty Friedan�s �The Feminist Mystic�, Naomi Wolf�s �The Beauty Myth�, and Jean Kilbourne�s film �Killing Us Softly�. Crudely, the zeitgeist among second wave feminists was that that beauty, fashion, media and advertising were oppressive to the advancement of women and thus should be boycotted, protested and campaigned against. In contrast, �third-wave� or �post� feminists view the pursuit of beauty as a sou...
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The pure erotics of Brazilian Waxing

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One of the questions I often get asked when I talk about my research is how much longer I think the trend for full pubic hair removal will last. I�m hesitant to give an exact expiry date if I�m honest. But I think this question opens up into broader discussions about what impact social, political and economic change has upon our bodily surfaces, and how embodied ideals of womanhood and femininity can both shift and remain constant over time. More revealing than any answer I might be able to give about the potential longevity of the Brazilian wax, is the asking of the question itself.  It demonstrates an understanding of pubic hairlessness as �current�, constructed, transitory, and it encourages conversation about where the norm has originated from, and why women in particular feel pressured to conform to it.  My Google Alerts notified me recently of an online survey examining men and women�s pubic hair grooming preferences, undertaken by Cosmopolitan.com , and suggesting that ...
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