Beyond Vanity: an Investigation Into Romanian Women’S Beauty Identities

This paper investigates women’s conceptualizations of the underlying meanings of beauty (‘natural’ versus ‘artificial’, inner versus outer) and the way Eastern Europe women navigate through these formulations in the process of negotiating their identities. The study elaborates on traditional, feminist and postmodern theories of the body and uses this framework to analyze self-reflexive beauty perceptions and the way perceptions materialize in beauty practices. Drawing on interviews with Romanian women ages 20 to 54, this work emphasizes the complex and often contradictory relation women hold to their bodies, focusing on issues of oppression/ empowerment, media influence and cultural ‘normalcy’.



Citation:

Larisa Puslenghea and Michelle R. Nelson (2009) ,"Beyond Vanity: an Investigation Into Romanian Women’S Beauty Identities", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 911-912.

Authors

Larisa Puslenghea , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Michelle R. Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA



Volume

NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36 | 2009



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