Date of Award

Spring 2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Program/Concentration

English

Committee Director

Manuela Mourao

Committee Member

Edward Jacobs

Committee Member

Jeffrey Richards

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E64 R49 2007

Abstract

This project examines advertisements for cosmetics, hair products, corsets, and various other mechanical and chemical body alteration devices to uncover an emphasis, manifested through the female body, on gendered differences. Beauty products accentuated feminine physical attributes in order to emphasize differences that were much subtler than the discourse on gender would suggest. In essence, to make the bodily difference closer to the differences the discourse on gender proclaimed.

Primary source material includes visual and textual advertisements from women's periodicals from 1870 — 1900. Periodicals have been chosen for popularity in their respective time periods as well as for their varied audiences (moderate feminists, those desiring fashion advice, and readers interested in political and social reform). This project relies heavily on ads from Woman, The Women's Penny Paper, and Myra's Journal of Dress and Fashion with occasional ads from other periodicals as well.

Secondary sources demonstrate an increasing attention to the female body as well as changes in the way that the body, both female and male, was conceptualized. This study particularly draws from the work of Thomas Laqueur who uses scientific drawings of human anatomy and writing concerned with the body and reproductive processes to identify a shift in how people thought about female and male bodies. A wide variety of scholars interested in the Victorians' use of beauty products are also consulted.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/xtta-e184

Download

Share

COinS