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The podcast discusses how sexual capital is shaped by different systems, such as mass media and the male gaze. Mass media influences our perception of beauty and promotes certain standards, while the male gaze pressures women to conform to these standards. Socioeconomic status also plays a role in sexual capital, with higher status individuals being seen as more attractive. Sexual capital can impact personal success and career outcomes. Overall, sexual capital is influenced by various factors and systems in society. I'm ready. Let's do this already, all right? Here we go. The first woman moving on to the evening gown round is... That was a voiceover from the Miss Universe Canada pageant. Apart from wondering who the winner was, you may also wonder what makes us see someone as beautiful. Typically, when we think of a pageant winner, we would probably imagine a female with full lips, clear skin, and a good muscle tone. Like pageant winners, individuals with such physical characteristics are seen as having high sexual capital. By definition, sexual capital is the social power that an individual has as a result of being perceived as sexually attractive by the majority of their social group. However, this simple definition doesn't satisfy our curiosity. I'm Yu Ming Liang, and I'm Yu Tong Liang. Welcome to our podcast. We'll illustrate how sexual capital is shaped by looking at different systems. Mass media shapes how people perceive sexual capital by framing. Framing refers to presenting something in a way that emphasizes certain features while ignoring the rest. For example, watching appearance-focused commercials determine how women think about beauty. Similarly, in the 1950s, popular culture, including Hollywood films, spoke to women that to find and keep the attention of men, one needed large breasts. Marilyn Monroe was one of those examples. The public perceived her as a sex symbol. A magazine commented that she represents to men that something they all want in their unfulfilled dreams. This association of large breasts with sexual attractiveness marks a renewed emphasis on women's roles as mothers and homemakers following the disruptions of World War II on people's normal lives. Similarly, about three decades later, films generally depicted females as innocent, sweet, pure, and generous women. Such women influenced the protagonist to abandon his Batman ways and reform. The assumption underlying this narrative was that if the woman could marry a man, then there would be a happy ending for all. Such emphasis on a woman's marriage were prevalent in the films of the 1980s and 1990s. Examples include Meg Ryan, Jennifer Aniston, and Julia Roberts. At that time, viewing motherhood as a sexual capital was a result of the aging of the American baby boom generation. Many of them were more concerned with making enough money to retire and provide security for their children than pursue peace and harmony. When it comes to depicting males, mass media promotes masculinity and toughness as sexual capital. For instance, playgirls' centerfolds have become increasingly dense and muscular. Even action figures in children's cartoons are becoming more muscular. Moreover, mass media pays exceptional attention to celebrities, which creates a celebrity effect. Specifically, mass media promotes female celebrities that meet certain standards of beauty and their fame, wealth, and fabulous lifestyles. To investigate this topic, we will look at Meng Zhang's study, which interviewed Chinese female college students. Zhang found that the female students imitated the looks and trends of female celebrities to enhance their sexual capital. One young woman, for example, said, If some actress is popular now and your friends say you look like her, it's considered a compliment. You'll feel prettier yourself. Many young women mentioned the celebrity named Fan Bingbing. They saw her as a representation of an attractive woman in China. One young woman thinks this is because Fan Bingbing meets Chinese standards of beauty. Specifically, Fan Bingbing has a pointed chin, big eyes, a high nasal bridge, and a small mouth. Therefore, if a person meets the beauty standards promoted by a celebrity, then they would see themselves as having more sexual capital. Lastly, mass media contributes to homogeneous beauty standards. In other words, people of different racial backgrounds follow a similar beauty standard promoted by the media. The Chinese interviewees, as mentioned earlier, perceived Fan Bingbing's high nasal bridge as beautiful, which resembled the great nose in Western culture. Similarly, an interviewee claimed that Chinese people all think Westerners with big eyes and tall nasal bridges are beautiful. So why do we have this adherence to Western beauty standards? The reason is that advertisements have a narrow representation of beauty, which is caused by product globalization and advanced technology. This may be especially true for men and women in South Korea who view advertisements in magazines using Caucasian-looking models. For example, in the United States, female models in advertisements have become increasingly thinner, which explains why Korean pop culture idols are tall and thin. Moving to the discussion of male gaze, the male gaze can pressure women to adhere to the beauty standards created by men. If women do not meet these standards, they will be perceived as lacking sexual capital. The term male gaze may sound unfamiliar, but it basically refers to the projection of fantasies onto a female which is shaped accordingly. For example, a Polish study found that black men and boys tend to prefer heavier body sizes for women and girls, and they are more likely to prefer specific body parts. This argument is later confirmed by a black female participant in his study. She said, black men want a big butt and big breasts. Additionally, another black participant reported the pressure to satisfy male's standards of beauty, because if she does not do so, she would perceive herself as lacking sexual capital. Specifically, she said, we were born and we grew up with this mentality that you're supposed to look pretty wherever you go, you're supposed to look presentable, you're supposed to look attractive to other people, especially men. You know, because it's a kind of bad thing if you don't look attractive enough, then you wonder, am I ever going to get married? Am I ever going to get a boyfriend? Later in the interview, we also see women's internalization of the beauty standards created by men, meaning that women start moving from judging themselves in the eyes of males to the inside, which is their self-image. For example, in Poland study, a female participant said, no matter how beautiful I think I am, sometimes I go on the street, I get on the train, I go, oh my god, that girl is very pretty. How can you think you're the most beautiful? You're so beautiful. You know, you always have someone that you know gonna, but it's just, you know, that's a lie. This shows that not only are males judging females, but also are females comparing themselves to other females, potentially using the beauty standards created by men. Mass media and the male gaze may appear to be two separate systems in shaping sexual capitals. However, they're actually intertwined. In the film Iron Man 2, Natasha was applying for a position in the stock industry. In this process, she was presented as a sexualized object that fulfilled the male character Tony's fantasies. This was seen in the conversation between Tony and Pepper, while Tony was viewing images of Natasha's modeling career. Tony said to Pepper, I need her. She's got everything that I need. Natasha suddenly intruded. Will that be all, Mr. Stark? No, Tony said. But Pepper said, yes, that will be all. So Natasha left. Then Tony turned to Pepper and said, I want one, with one referring to Natasha. In the film, Natasha is presented as a sexualized female or female with high sexual capital. This was emphasized by Tony's comment that she's got everything that I need, showing that Natasha fulfills male fantasy. Under Tony's male gaze, Natasha was an object to be desired and acquired. Later in the film, Tony hired Natasha and asked her to be his companion for the late night dinner. Once again, the film advertised male control over females. Additionally, socioeconomic status correlates with sexual capital. Socioeconomic status is defined as education, income, or occupation tangible and quantifiable characteristics. As mentioned earlier, the SES includes material resources such as income, educational attainment, and occupational prestige, as well as social hierarchy, which is known as subjective SES. Both socioeconomic status and sexual capital are traits in which more is often assumed to be better. In other words, individuals may prefer partners who are superior to themselves over partners who are their equals. Individuals with high socioeconomic status have more sexual capital. For example, in societies where food is scarce, plumpness signals that the one has resources and is considered to be an attractive quality. However, where food is abundant, being underweight is seen as an attractive trait. In other words, being underweight signals that the individual has more time to work out, eat healthy food, and go to the beach, which can be a result of their high socioeconomic status. Conversely, individuals with low socioeconomic status have to spend more time at work and eat junk food and therefore tend to be chubbier. High sexual capital correlates with high SES. It is suggested that people can use so much SES to predict how that person will perform or behave. In other words, physical attractiveness usually has a positive impact on personal success, as others believe attractive people to be more successful. For example, people often connect sexual capital to career outcomes such as an increased probability of employment, recommendation for promotion, and higher earnings. High sexual capital correlates with high SES because of the status characteristic theory in which people with high sexual capital are afforded assumptions of higher worthiness provided with more global positive evaluations and treated differentially. For example, managers may be more willing to help more attractive employees because people tend to view attractive individuals as more confident and more perceptive. To sum up, sexual capital is shaped by different systems, including mass media, male gaze, and socioeconomic status. Mass media decides what physical characteristics are desirable and what are not. The male gaze establishes the standards of beauty for women. And lastly, a high socioeconomic status can enhance one's sexual capital. Looking at these systems helps us understand that beauty is not a definitive term, but rather a concept that is constructed by various systems. Thank you for listening. © transcript Emily Beynon
