Abstract
Female bodies have been exposed to a maximum possible extent through print and visual media globally. The physical impression of women body has been used to sell several consumer products, viz., food to floors, from creams to cars, from perfume to popcorn. The standards of beauty being imposed on women by external sources are much debated and complicated process and need to be understood within the age old socio-culturally milieu. In addition, the political economy of ‘women image’ and its commercial exploitation by selling and purchasing ‘beauty’ and consumption of it also requires serious attention. Hence, a theoretical discourse is developed being based on content analysis to cross-examine the representation of women around the patriarchic cultural notion of ‘beauty’ and its commoditization in commercial space through media. The paper further explores the social dynamics of ‘female body’ and reconstruction of ‘femaleness’ through socio-cultural process of ‘gendering’ and ‘popular media’. The discourse revolves around how and whether the ‘reconstruction of female body’ could be dissected in search of ‘real image (‘Changing the ‘image of beauty’ in real sphere of womens’ life and life style) of a woman’ with a special focus on Indian society.
Key words: Gender; Media; beauty and objectification.
