Document Type : Research Article
Authors
1
Professor of Sociology, Departmant of Social Sciences, University of Yazd
2
PhD Candidate in Sociology, Departmant of Social Sciences, University of Yazd
3
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University
Abstract
Introduction: Recently, people try to represent their identity and differentiate themselves from others by using strategies to beautify their body and appearance by visiting beauty centers and managing themselves. Managing appearance and achieving beauty is expressed in actions and deeds, such as body makeup, sports, dieting, having a beautiful and young body, etc. In this way, beauty can also be introduced and managed by people as an individual identity. Fashion and makeup are signs through which people declare what is their identity and what is not. In addition, people flaunt their appearance in such a way that they are different from others. However, nowadays, the body is considered as a project to build personal identity.
Method: The current study was conducted using a qualitative approach and the method of thematic analysis. The participants of this research were 24 women and 25 men. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The citizens studied were men and women from Yazd who visited beauty salons, clubs, medical centers, beauty clinics, etc. and were selected for the interviews. The participants in this study are a combination of men and women with different demographic characteristics, and the maximum variation purposive sampling method was used. In the data analysis, the data are recorded on paper and coded at three levels.
Finding: The results show that self-management factors led women and men to tend to visit beauty centers. Women visited many beauty centers and manipulated their bodies due to self-care, defense mechanisms, deconstruction of femininity and inhibiting forms and men, career change, abolition of masculinity schema, symbolic annihilation, and social deprivation. The above factors indicate that men and women want to change and manage their identity through beauty so that they can present their new selves to everyone. For this reason, forming a new identity has consequences for them. Women have experienced consequences such as generative action, self-reflection, self-efficacy, conflict flooding, and finally subversion of identity, while men have faced identity stabilization. Men want to manage their identity with the continuation of masculinity agency, stigma reduction, sexual seduction, and self-expression.
Conclusion: Therefore, according to the research, the men and women studied achieved their ultimate goal of self-management through the strategy of body presentation. Although both groups consider that self-presentation is a sign of silence, women try to undermine and rebuild their identity and want to achieve a new identity, while beauty in men means the continuation of masculinity in a new way for them. In line with the changes achieved, men have changed and smooth their lives, men tend to manage their identity through beauty in who they are. However, through the process of beautification, men try to gain independence and more opportunities, including advancement in their social life
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