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Rumpus Book ClubBeauty and Body Image in Nepal
“Although female virtue in Nepal had traditionally been expressed by keeping one’s shoulders and legs covered, young Nepali women are now increasingly eschewing the traditional kurta surwal (a long tunic over baggy pants), and opting to wear more body-baring Western clothes, such as tight jeans, low-cut tops and short skirts. …
Where plumpness was once historically desired as a sign of health, prosperity and fertility, and extreme thinness was a mark of poverty, young women now talk about dieting and being ‘too fat,’ and they describe others pejoratively as ‘fatties.’”
For ten months as a Fulbright Fellow, Liz Lance studied how mass media — principally Western-inflected domestic mass media — has affected body image, and concepts of beauty and femininity, in young Nepali women. Her research is presented on the site in six photo essays, several of which are accompanied by audio slideshows.
July 8th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
There was a break-through study in Fiji along similar lines that was the first to prove beyond doubt that media affects body-image and probably a lot of other things too, like race and tolerance (or lack thereof).