Tiffany Bell

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1102
13 Feb. 2016

Reflection
The process of finding an inquiry question was difficult. I began my inquiry with another
question about personality and behavior. When I began that research every single source was an
academic source. I wanted my conversation to include more variety and I also grew bored with
that topic. However, once I began my research on my new topic I began to develop more of a
conversation. Before I started my proposal I knew my problem would be wording or organizing
my paper. This was also my main feedback from the peer revision. Their suggestions were to add
more rhetorical knowledge, meaning, changing my approach to better fit my audience. I took my
feedback into consideration, created an outline, and then edited my first draft. I hope that it is
more organized and easier to read.

Natural Beauty?

Every year since I can remember, I would find myself buying something to fit in, fit the
trend. Whether it were clothes, hair extensions or eyeliner, I wanted to look beautiful. After
organizing my thoughts I came to the conclusion, my inquiry question should relate to beauty. I
chose a question based off something that intrigues women globally. In life, women are expected
to look or be a certain way. Automatically a woman is judged based off her looks. That led me to
the question: How does the beauty standard affect womens life? This question is a sea filled with
opinions, debates and research. I hope my inquiry will allow me to explore as much as I can.
Before I began my research, I pondered what the standard of beauty was. What
characteristics qualified a women to be beautiful based on society? I began to think what

characteristics do models, actors and musicians have in common. The more and more I pondered,
I began to realize these female icons consisted of all the same features: bold eyes, perfectly
arched eyebrows, slender nose, smaller lips, and slender body. I took the time to Google,
beautiful women. My results were exclusive woman with those same features above appeared,
no adversity. Who decides whats beautiful?
I feel my inquiry is a very researchable topic. The selection of evidence to support my
inquiry is vast. There are many scientists interested in how the beauty standard affects women's
everyday life. From what I found, there are studies focused on the thin ideal and attractiveness
and there are also studies on how makeup can affect competence. For example, Catherine Saint
Louis, wrote an article about a study that showed a woman who wears just the right amount of
makeup in the workplace is viewed as competent, trustworthy and intelligent. This article along
with many others will help me establish a variety of views. I hope to use other source such as
studies, magazines, articles and blogs within my paper to capture all viewpoints.
Magazines have titles like, The pursuit of beauty, what does this mean? Is beauty in the
eye of the beholder or a standard set by society? Throughout my life I have realized that society
and culture recognizes women with certain phenotypes as beautiful or sexy. This observation can
be supported by exploring male attraction based on television, music, magazines, and other
forms of media. The effects of beauty is quite monumental for women. I am willing to bet over
75% of women have heard or said Im fat, I need to lose weight. Even now as I ponder about
my topic, I realize this beauty standard has influenced my expectations and others expectations
of happiness. It wasnt until recently that I began to speculate the importance that beauty has on a
womans well-being.

So many magazines, music and television fill females minds with the idea, there bodies
are suppose to be a certain shape or their hair is suppose to be a certain way. I claim, Nothing
makes a woman more beautiful, than the belief that she is beautiful. How can these young girls
understand their own uniques if beautiful is determined by society and media? The importance of
my inquiry is to bring awareness to this topic of ideal beauty and hopefully incorporate others
voices and shine light on positive self confidence in woman. By some people, college is referred
to as the place teens and young adults begin to find themselves. Understanding your inner and
outer beauty can be key in how you are successful throughout life.
In conclusion, my inquiry is How does the beauty standard affect womens life? My
inquiry is broad enough for me to explore. As I ponder my inquiry, so many question are raised,
such as: What is the beauty standard? Why are so many woman motivated to meet this standard?
How powerful society and media are in a persons pursuit of beauty? How does cultural
differences affect the standard of beauty? However my ultimate goal is not only to provide new
information for my readers but for my readers to understand every woman possesses their own
unique beauty.