ABSTRACT
The tyranny of American beauty standards dominates the global landscape and exerts a powerful influence on people's perceptions of beauty and physical attractiveness around the world. Women and men of all ages and backgrounds are influenced by distinctly American images of beauty and physical attractiveness. In addition to the way that standards of beauty have fluctuated with time, there is also a degree of cultural variation that makes a feature or physical attribute considered beautiful in one culture, inexplicable or downright detestable in another. Even though one sees beauty through the "period eye," and even though "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," there are certain constants that are evident upon any close inspection of American beauty standards. Ironically, the racialized image of beauty was not recognized by White America whose mainstream mass media images of beauty at that time tended to ignore or insult rather than affirm African Americans.
