Behind a pretty face : a study of make-up and subjugation of women in Singapore.

• Main Author: Gho, Valerie Yong Ting.
• Other Authors: Tan Joo Ean
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/51656
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The wearing of make-up as a beauty practice is not new, and is deemed essential to some women since early ages. This tradition of primping up has fed in their desires to look beautiful and to conceal imperfections when meeting people. This paper seeks to explore how women in Singapore are being subjugated in a muted form, disguised by a façade of high gender equality in a developed country. In-depth interviews with fourteen women who wear and do not wear make-up were conducted to investigate this underlying implication and to delve into how this false consciousness is being internalised and perpetuated. I organise this discussion using various themes such as inequality and power, the presentation of self, consumption and media to address repercussions from the use of make-up.