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SPRING 2017 HARVARD REVIEW OF LATIN AME BEAUTY
MUSIC
BEAUTY
EDITOR’S LETTER BY JUNE CAROLYN ERLICK
The Diversity of Beauty
I remember so vividly the first time someone called me “gordita.” It was while I traveled VOLUME XVI NO.3
on a clumsily converted cattle boat pitching in the waves from Cuba to Canada in 1970. I was
David Rockefeller Center
for Latin American Studies
seasick all the time. Yet I remember the emotion of shock at that word more than I recall how
CELEBRATING THE LIFE
I felt about my sickness. Of course, I know now that the Cuban who called me “gordita” meant
AND LEGACY OF DAVID ROCKEFELLER
“my little pleasantly plump friend” and probably wanted to console me. I heard “fatty.” I cried.
Director
Ironically, I’ve always felt a bit more in home in Latin America than in the United States
Brian Farrell
because I’m five feet tall and well, maybe, a little pleasantly plump. So when Álvaro Jarrin and
Executive Director
I started to put together this issue of beauty, I was perhaps just a little bit surprised about how
Ned Strong
many people wanted to change things about themselves: their noses, breasts, muscles, skin
color, hair, weight and even ethnicity. I was not alone. ReVista
I cheered when Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe and telenovela actress, fought back Editor-in-Chief
when now-President Donald Trump insulted her about her weight—and battled again when the June Carolyn Erlick
candidate did it again via Twitter. That would certainly lose him the election, I thought. Copy Editor
If North Americans are held to an impossible beauty standards, Latin Americans are often Anita Safran
served a double whammy, since their standards are often determined by the tall blonde North Publication Interns
American ones. And just as I’ll never be tall and skinny, Latin American forms of beauty are cer- Isabel Espinosa
Sylvie Stoloff
tainly their own—a fact that is increasingly recognized and celebrated.
Of course, Latin America is known for its beauty contests and famously stunning actress- Design
Jane Simon Design
es—think Sofia Vergara, Sonia Braga, Salma Hayek and Dolores del Rio. And those beauty
contests and movie roles helped shaped standards and images other than the skinny blonde. Printer
P+R Publications
Beauty is a fact of everyday life in Latin America, from the manicures (for both men and
women), the stylish clothes (I often wondered how Colombian university students could make Contact Us
1730 Cambridge Street
jeans seem so very elegant), and the infinite varieties of hair care. A recent article in The New
Cambridge, MA 02138
York Times recounted that a local singer in Northeast Brazil subsidized trips to the beauty Telephone: 617-495-5428
parlor for parents of Zika babies, intended as a source of comfort for stressed mothers.
Subscriptions, Back Copies and Comments
Beauty is business, goods and services that urge people to keep on purchasing. Yet the jerlick@fas.harvard.edu
quest for some idealized type of beauty is not just a matter of vanity or even identity for many
Website
Latin Americans; it’s a ticket to a better job, a hope for higher class status or an investment in a revista.drclas.harvard.edu
beauty contest or, more unfortunately, a position in the drug trade.
Facebook
Not too long ago in Bucaramanga, Colombia, a school nurse fretted to me that a lot of her ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America
poorest students were refusing to eat (she didn’t use the word “anorexia”) because they hoped
Copyright © 2017 by the President and
to be chosen for a reality show and make a lot of money. Fellows of Harvard College.
The articles in this issue cover a wide range of topics, showing how Latin Americans have ISSN 1541—1443
been shaped by concepts of beauty and, in turn, have shaped those concepts. Beauty often ReVista is printed on recycled stock.
implies conformity, but as you will see in these pages, it is also resistance. It is the power of an
indigenous beauty queen who speaks out against massacres. It is the dignity of the elegantly
dressed cholitas who remind us that beauty is not just skinny and white. It is the effort of those
held in clandestine jail cells to maintain their humanness through fashion shows.
I’ve long been fascinated by the subject of beauty in Latin America, yet it took the knowl- This issue of ReVista is made possible
edge, inspiration, collaboration and dogged work of Álvaro Jarrin, a professor at Holy Cross through generous support of
College who specializes in beauty-related topics, for the two of us to create this issue of Santander Universities Global Division.
ReVista. A special thanks to you, Álvaro, for making this ReVista what it is!
2 ReVista SPRING 2017 PHOTO BY
HARVARD REVIEW OF LATIN AMERICA
SPRING 2017
VOLUME XVI NO. 3
Published by the David Rockefeller Center
for Latin American Studies
Harvard University
Top of the page photos clockwise from top left by: Ricardo Bohorquez, Yayo Lopez, Luis Miranda
BEAUTY
FIRST TAKE BUILDING BRIDGES
The Politics of Beauty by Alvaro Jarrin 2 Wolf Chase in Chaco
by Rebecca Greenberg 73
BODY IMAGE AND THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY
Globalizing Latin American Beauty by Geoffrey Jones 10 BOOK TALK
The Culture of Skinniness by Lucrecia Ramírez Restrepo 15 Design and Natural Resource Extraction
Should I Eat the Chocolate Cake? by Renée S. Scott 17 A Review by Anthony Bebbington 74
Beauty Weighs in Argentina by Melissa Maldonado-Salcedo 21 Democracy and Party-Building
A Review by Scott Mainwaring 76
BEAUTY IN TIMES OF REPRESSION The Borders of Dominicanidad
Mayan Queens by Rodrigo Abd 24 A Review by Pedro Reina-Pérez 78
Maya Queens at the Microphone by Betsy Konefal 26
Beauty in Places of Horror by Barbara Sutton 29
Beasts and Beauty in Colombia by Michael Stanfield 33
MASCULINITY AND BEAUTY
Peruvian Beauty by Norma Fuller 38 ONLINE
Technologies of Gender by Lauren E. Gulbas 41 Look for more content online at
Building Muscles in Rio’s Fitness Clubs by Cesar Sabino 44 revista.drclas.harvard.edu
CHOLITAS AND BEYOND
Cholitas: The Revenge of a Generation by Delphine Blast 48
The Queen of Sheep by Cristina García Navas 52
Peruvian Pishtacos by Caroline Yezer 54
Performing Race and Gender in the Andes by Mary Elena Wilhoit 56
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL ON THE COVER
Blackness and Beauty in Ecuador By O. Hugo Benavides 60
BEAUTY
Contesting Beauty by Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman 66 © Delphine Blast I hanslucas
Sensual Not Beautiful by Jasmine Mitchell 70 www.delphineblast.com
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 1
FIRST TAKE
The Politics of Beauty By ALVARO JARRIN
2 ReVista SPRING 2017 PHOTO BY YAYO LÓPEZ/OJOS PROPIOS/ILAS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PORTRAIT IN LIMA HISTORICAL CENTER,
PHOTO1993
BY
BEAUTY WHEN ONE TALKS TO PEOPLE IN LATIN were delighted with the results. Although she was willing to endure any sacrifices. AMERICA about beauty, it is never simply Solange realized that she would have to go Echoing the poet Vinicius de Moraes, she about vanity, self-care or individual through many hoops, and she would be said that “beauty is fundamental,” but consumption. Beauty in Latin America one more name on a very long waiting list, she added a very practical reason for its always seems to have larger implications, inducing hopes for upward mobility, invoking national ideals of beauty, or even suggesting beauty as a standard for citizenship. To observers of Latin America, beauty can tell us much about this region’s ongoing inequalities and the way the body’s attractiveness, or lack of it, acquires sociopolitical meanings. Let me begin, however, with the story of Solange, whom I met at the reception area of a public hospital in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Solange (I’m not using her real name to protect confidentiality) In Latin America, beauty has so much meaning to women because it is a bodily sign that condenses the race, class and gender inequalities they deal with on a daily basis, a “dictatorship of beauty” that determines which bodies have value and which bodies do not. was there to see if her nose job would be finally approved by the medical team that oversaw plastic surgery procedures. She told me that having a different nose was a dream of hers since she was a teenager, but until recently she had believed plastic surgery was a luxury only the wealthy could afford. A few months ago, however, she had been encouraged to seek out this hospital by two friends of hers who also worked in retail. Those two friends had been able to get approval for a free breast lift and a free tummy tuck, fully covered by the universal healthcare system, and Gisele Bündchen; PHOTO WIKIPEDIA COMMONS REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 3
BEAUTY Left: Mariquita Palma Nonones, el Guayabo, Ica, Peru, 2016. Right: Bertha Javier Durand, Huancayo, Junin, Peru, 2016. importance, “in this country, one needs she might be able to find a better job than obstruct her respiratory airways. The a good appearance to find good jobs.” retail sales, which paid very little. surgeon told Solange that the tomography It did not bother her, she assured me, When Solange’s name was called, she results by themselves were not enough that she would be studied by the medical allowed me to witness the consultation evidence to justify the surgery, but if residents who carried out surgeries at she had with a young plastic surgeon, she consistently complained of difficulty this hospital, because it represented still completing his medical residency. breathing through her nose, he could her small contribution towards making She handed over an envelope with the get her an expedited approval—her Brazilian plastic surgery “number one in results of a tomography this doctor had story had to remain consistent when she the world.” With her new, slimmer nose, requested during a previous visit, and booked a time for the surgery, and when Solange claimed, she would suffer less which confirmed that Solange had a very she checked in at the hospital. A little discrimination while seeking work, and slightly deviated septum, which did not while later the surgeon explained to me 4 ReVista SPRING 2017 PHOTOS BY YAYO LÓPEZ/OJOS PROPIOS/ILAS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
FIRST TAKE
Left: Alicia Huamán Quisani, Chinchero, Cuzco, Peru, 2016; Right: Elizabeth Ramos Durand, Huaro, Cuzco,Peru, 2016.
that Brazil’s universal healthcare system to perform the aesthetic surgeries that pursuit of beauty. When one talks to
would only cover plastic surgeries that were valuable in private medical practice. patients and to surgeons, however, two
addressed a demonstrated health need, Solange’s case was valuable to him because different explanations emerge for why
but aesthetic surgeries were routinely it would allow him to learn how to do beauty matters. Low-income patients
approved by relabeling them as medically corrective surgery on what he described like Solange invariably invoke “good
necessary reconstructive surgeries. If the as a “negroid nose,” a condition that he appearance” as central to any hope of
hospital administrators were aware of this said was typical among the racially-mixed upward mobility in society—beauty
informal practice, they turned a blind eye Brazilian population. is imagined as providing new job
to it, because they knew it was important In Brazil, the interests of low-income opportunities, opening doors that were
for patients who desired beauty and for patients and surgeons-in-training formerly closed, and guaranteeing, in
medical residents who needed to learn intersect on the operating table in the general, that a person will be treated
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 5
BEAUTY Left: Doña Ursula, Ursula Ventura Chapoñan, Mórrope, Lambayeque, Peru, 2015; Right: Jhaine Huamán Pulquín, La Jalca Grande, Amazonas, Peru, 2015. fairly in society. The concern for beauty in grueling jobs. In Brazil, as in general their discipline has a larger, loftier goal allows these patients to complain about in Latin America, beauty has so much of improving the Brazilian population. the many ways they feel Brazilian society meaning to women because it is a bodily The plastic surgeons I interviewed in treats people differently based on their sign that condenses the race, class and Brazil believe beauty standards to be appearance—beauty’s blessings seem to gender inequalities they deal with on universal, to be objectively verifiable, and simply be bestowed on the rich, but are a daily basis, a “dictatorship of beauty” to have meaning not only for individuals denied to those with wider noses, those that determines which bodies have value but for the nation as a whole. They with ugly teeth, those women whose labor and which bodies do not. Plastic surgery imagine their surgical prowess as able as mothers take a toll on their bodies, seems an acceptable risk in comparison to fix the “mistakes” caused by too much or those workers whose bodies are to the abject threat of ugliness. racial mixture in Brazil, and they exalt marked by the long hours spent per day For plastic surgeons, on the other hand, women with clear European ancestry, 6 ReVista SPRING 2017 PHOTO BY YAYO LÓPEZ/OJOS PROPIOS/ILAS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Left: Lizbeth Quizpe, Chinchero, Cuzco, Peru, 2016; Right: Luanda del Carmen Palma Ballumbrosio. El Carmen, Ica, Peru, 2016.
like the supermodel Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian population. It was this eugenic surgery.
as beauty ideals for all Brazilian women. legacy within plastic surgery that allowed I expand on this theme in my
The desire for whiteness expressed by the most famous plastic surgeon in Brazil, forthcoming book, The Biopolitics
plastic surgeons is not accidental—plastic Ivo Pitanguy, to argue that the poor of Beauty, but my purpose here in
surgery has a long history in Brazil, and should also be granted the gift of beauty, contrasting the surgeons’ medical
was first celebrated as a medical tool by and to gain state backing to expand access discourse to patients’ understandings
Brazilian eugenicists like Renato Kehl, to plastic surgery within public hospitals. of beauty is to showcase the manifold,
who in the early 20th century equated A more beautiful citizenry, the logic went, overlapping meanings of beauty within
beautification with hygiene, imagining would be rid of its more ugly, criminal the Latin American landscape. While
a future in which racial difference and elements, and plastic surgeons would heal dominant discourses about beauty in
ugliness would be eradicated from the the wounds of urban violence through Latin America tend to reassert the region’s
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 7
BEAUTY
to keep those aesthetic hierarchies in place,
and they do not remain unchallenged.
The Afro-Brazilian movement has
increasingly made efforts to push for
more diversity in the modeling and
advertising industries, demanding that
black bodies be recognized as beautiful
beyond the sexualized stereotype of the
mulatta. Indigenous beauty pageants all
over the region attempt to recognize not
only a different bodily aesthetic but also a
new form of belonging in the nation that
does not erase their indigenous values
or require assimilation into a mestizo
majority. Transgender beauty practices
in Latin America open up spaces for
non-gender normative bodies to claim
recognition within highly transphobic
societies. Beauty is not simply skin deep,
but is rather a more profound negotiation
of the boundary between those who can
claim to be ideal citizens and those who
are still regarded as second-class citizens.
The articles in this issue of ReVista will
The tension, between a rigid beauty and an unruly address the myriad meanings of beauty in
several Latin American countries, and will
beauty, and the messy grey areas in between, is what tackle a wide variety of topics, including
makes studying beauty in Latin America such a but not limited to beauty pageants, plastic
surgery, masculinity, afro-aesthetics,
complex but fascinaitng endeavor. trans beauty practices, the cosmetic
industry, eating disorders and the political
race, class and gender hierarchies, Beauty is a political project in Brazil, meanings of fat. June Carolyn Erlick and
especially those backed by the knowledge and I would argue it is a political project I sought contributors that were attuned
of “experts” like plastic surgeons, the in all of Latin America. The body’s to the ways that race, gender, class and
on-the-ground experiences of what is aesthetic value becomes the battleground nation are intertwined in the production
beautiful or attractive are always more upon which citizenship is crafted. The and performance of beauty, and which
unruly and more complex, because they modeling, advertising and beauty understood beauty as a window into larger
are shaped by popular culture and local, pageant industries, for instance, have political and social processes. Beauty has
immediate understandings of beauty. long reproduced unrealistic standards only recently become a scholarly object of
The very same plastic surgery, such as of beauty in Latin America that do not inquiry in Latin American studies, and the
Solange’s nose job, can be simultaneously reflect the region’s diversity—pick up any topic is fertile for more than one issue,
described as a form of empowerment fashion magazine or look at any television but we hope that this collection begins an
and disempowerment, because it gives ad or televised beauty pageant anywhere important conversation regarding why, as
Solange a reason to fight her experience in Latin America, and it is light-skinned Vinicius de Moraes and Solange claimed,
of racial discrimination in the job market, men and women who dominate those beauty is fundamental.
but also allows her plastic surgeon to spaces, while indigenous and black
reassert that “negroid noses” are by features remain conspicuously absent. Alvaro Jarrín is Assistant Professor
definition inferior and in need of surgical In Brazil, modeling scouts specifically of Anthropology at College of the Holy
correction. This tension, between a rigid hunt for new talents in the regions of the Cross. His research focuses on Brazilian
beauty and an unruly beauty, and the country that were populated by German medicine and its relationship to sociopo-
messy grey areas in between, is what and Polish immigrants, assuming white litical understandings of the body. His
makes studying beauty in Latin America beauty is inherently superior and “sells” book, The Biopolitics of Beauty, will be
such a complex but fascinating endeavor. products locally and abroad. It takes work published this summer.
8 ReVista SPRING 2017 PHOTO, ABOVE, LUIS MIRANDA/OJOS PROPIOS/ILAS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. OPPOSITE PAGE, CARLOS SEBASTIÁN.BODY IMAGE AND THE
BUSINESS OF BEAUTY
Geoffrey Jones Globalizing Latin American Beauty • Lucrecia Ramírez Restrepo The Culture of Skinniness
Renée S. Scott Should I Eat the Chocolate Cake? • Melissa Maldonado-Salcedo Beauty Weighs in Argentina
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 9BEAUTY
Globalizing Latin American Beauty
The Making of a Giant Business By GEOFFREY JONES
BEAUTY SEEMS TO MATTER A LOT IN LATIN Imagined, every known human society in
America. Whenever I arrive in the region The whiteness of history has used beauty products. Human
I am struck by the disproportionate preferences for adornment and cosmetics
number of attractive and stylish women
the emergent Latin were in part shaped by religious beliefs
and men who seem to be just walking American beauty and prevailing medical knowledge. More
around. I am always even more taken fundamentally, consumption was probably
aback by airport bookstalls crammed with
culture was evident driven by biological desires to attract and
magazines devoted to plastic surgery and in beauty contests, in reproduce. Throughout history, beauty
the celebration of all things beautiful. And products were made in people’s homes, or
then there are the countless posters and
which pale skins were in small batches by craftsmen. Most people
billboards advertising beauty accessible exclusively featured. had neither time nor money to devote to
to all. beauty. Beauty was also a local matter—
There is plenty of less anecdotal standards of beauty varied enormously
evidence too that beauty is big business. among geographies, as well as over time.
According to the industry database The advent of modern industry and
Euromonitor, Brazil is now the fourth modern marketing in the 19th century
biggest market for beauty products in the changed everything. Beauty became a
world, after the United States, China and business. Skin creams, cosmetics and
Japan. Mexico was ranked seventh and perfumes began to be made in factories.
Argentina sixteenth. Chemistry replaced natural ingredients.
Even more telling is per capita Advances in understanding the chemistry
spending. Brazilian spending on beauty of scent enabled the creation of synthetic
products is $148 on an average for each fragrances, transforming the ancient
Brazilian, the highest amount in Latin perfume industry in the process.
America. That of Argentina and Chile is Entrepreneurs created brands. They came
just a few dollars less. Although individual up with attractive packaging. They secured
Americans and Europeans spend more, endorsements from celebrities. Emotional
Latin Americans stand out among associations were built around products
emerging markets as spenders on beauty. which had once been functional. Brands
Thais, South Africans and Russians spend offered hope in a jar.
well under half the amount of Argentines, The modern industry was born in
Brazilians and Chileans. Chinese spend In the popular media, the apparent the rich industrialized world of Western
three-quarters less. Indians spend less than Latin American fascination with beauty Europe and the United States. As it grew it
one percent than people do in these three is regularly ascribed to culture. Latin incorporated the values and norms of those
Latin American countries. sensuousness, cults of body worship societies. Beauty became associated with
It is not just lipstick, fragrance and in tropical climates, and machismo Western appearances with Paris and New
other cosmetic products. Brazil, Mexico, expectations about female appearance York as aspirational global beauty capitals.
Colombia and Argentina regularly feature are regularly mentioned. The conservative The features of white people were hailed as
in the top ten countries for cosmetic and religious nature of much of Latin the global standard of beauty, and others
plastic surgery, alongside stalwarts such American society rarely gets a mention, were considered ugly. In the United States,
as the United States and South Korea. however. History points to more complex, when beauty contests like Miss America
Brazil, which offers a tax reduction for and contingent, explanations. started in the interwar years, African-
such surgery, is a world leader in breast Let me begin with the obvious: Latin Americans (and other ethnicities like Jews)
implants and liposuction. Latin Americans America was not the home of the modern were excluded. Beauty was gendered also.
are associated with a range of beauty beauty industry, nor of plastic surgery. Reflecting hardening gender identities in
enhancements, from the “Brazilian wax” As I explained in my book on the history the 19th century, beauty products became
to “jeans Colombianos.” of the global beauty industry, Beauty associated with women rather than men,
10 ReVista SPRING 2017 ALL PHOTOS THIS STORY COURTESY OF HAGLEY ARCHIVES.BODY IMAGE AND THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY
which was never the case historically. radio serials in the United States. It proved
The modern beauty industry, an effective tool to grow the market for
along with its underlying ideological toiletries in Latin America. The same firm
assumptions, was brought to Latin sponsored the first radionovela in Brazil
America by European and U.S. firms. in 1941. The advent of television during
Only a handful of urban dwellers had the 1950s provided a new medium. A
incomes and lifestyles sufficient to buy pioneering Mexican telenovela, which
such imported brands. Nineteenth- became such a distinctive Latin American
century prudery and association cultural genre, came in 1958, when
of cosmetics with immorality also Televisa’s Canal 4 showed the Colgate-
restricted markets. However affluent Palmolive- sponsored Senda prohibida.
Buenos Aires, whose citizens famously As everywhere, U.S. and European
imagined themselves as located in firms only celebrated white beauty.
Europe, became a magnet for French The whiteness of the emergent Latin
fragrance and cosmetic houses before American beauty culture was evident in
World War I. beauty contests, in which pale skins were
In most of Latin America, however, exclusively featured. The first national
low incomes and prevailing ethics Brazilian beauty contest was held in
meant that toilet soap and toothpaste, 1921, only three weeks after the first
not color cosmetics, were the first products Miss America, though it was judged
U.S. and European firms introduced to entirely on the basis of photographs.
the region. Unilever, based in Britain and The second contest in 1929 appointed a
the Netherlands, began making toilet soap Miss Brazil to represent the country at
in São Paulo in Brazil in 1930, and the a Miss Universe contest held in Texas
business began selling toothpaste in 1939. that year, and the final round included
Western multinationals made markets taking the state winners through
and created consumer desires—they did Rio de Janeiro streets, before being
not respond to a pent-up demand for judged in Brazil’s largest stadium.
cosmetic adornment. Marketing strategies The participants and winners were all
were skillfully adjusted to local conditions. white. The winner in the first contest
In Brazil women seldom read newspapers, had an Italian father.
the traditional medium used elsewhere The privileging of whiteness was
by Unilever for advertising. So the firm the norm of the global beauty industry,
switched to the more popular medium but it aligned well with the deep-seated
of radios. Latin American women racism throughout Latin America, as
were enticed with the opportunity to well as specific historical trends of the
emulate the latest beauty fashions of the time. There was much discussion about the
United States and Europe. American nature of the Brazilian national identity
and European models were used in during the interwar years. The social elite
advertisements by the big cosmetics aspired to raise the country’s international
companies such as Max Factor. status by demonstrating its progress, and
However, as Julio Moreno from the that it was becoming more European,
University of San Francisco has shown, defined as ethnically white. The judges
Ponds cream was advertised using in the 1929 contest included university
Mexican celebrities during the 1930s, professors, journalists and politicians,
while Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever’s and it was chaired by the president of the
U.S. twin, featured famous Mexican Brazilian Academy of Letters.
singers such as the Aguilar Sisters on For a long time, Latin Americans
its weekly radio program. remained modest consumers of beauty.
It was Colgate-Palmolive which Using corporate archives, I have been
pioneered the radionovela concept able to guestimate the historical size of
in interwar Cuba, drawing on its the industry. In 1950 the world industry
promotion of the so-called soap opera was worth about $10 billion in today’s
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 11BEAUTY
dollars—compared to $ 426 billion today. America. An estimated eighty percent of the desirable products at good prices, so
The United States was half the entire world lipstick sales in Brazil are made by direct providing them with an attractive earning
market. Brazil was a mere three percent, selling. opportunity. It tailored its strategy to
although surprisingly this was already Avon was enormously skilled at enticing local circumstances. It invested heavily
half the amount of the richer countries of people to buy cosmetics. When it entered in cosmetics education in countries such
Britain and France. a new market, it began with acquainting as Venezeula, which at the time used few
The real growth of the beauty representatives and customers with the cosmetics. In Brazil, as historian Shawn
market came later in the 20th century. Avon line. It provided representatives with Moura has shown, Avon responded
Multinational companies drove to prevailing gender norms which
market growth. U.S. and European disapproved of women working outside
companies devoted increasing the home with a campaign to portray direct
attention to Latin America. The selling as a respectable activity akin to
region had high tariff barriers, but marriage. It also created a new accounting
most countries allowed foreign firms system in response to escalating inflation
to manufacture and sell locally. This rates during the 1960s. Avon took a lead in
was in big contrast to most of Asia using ethnicities with a range of skin tones
and Africa, where multinational in its advertisements. In the United States,
firms were unwelcome, or entirely the firm was a pioneer in using African-
blocked as in Communist China. Americans in advertisements from 1966
The giants of the U.S. cosmetic onwards, though it was not until 1970
industry, whose marketing and that the first Afro-Latinos appeared
advertising expertise had built a in advertisements in Brazil. Avon did,
huge domestic market, spread over however, recruit darker skinned Brazilians
the subcontinent. Revlon opened as sales representatives much earlier.
its first foreign factory in Mexico in Latin Americans were educated and
1948. The German hair care company enticed to buy cosmetics, then, by firms
Wella started manufacturing in Chile which had honed their skills in marketing
in 1952, Brazil in 1954, Argentina in and business operations in advanced
1957, and in Mexico in 1961. economies. They evidently found willing
The most important corporate consumers, but this was at least as much
actor was Avon, the company which owing to the region’s high levels of
pioneered direct selling of cosmetics income and ethnic inequality than
in the United States. In 1954, Avon, whose to alleged body cultures or Latin
only previous international operation sensuousness. As incomes rose,
had been in Canada, opened a new growing numbers of urban middle
manufacturing business in Puerto Rico. class, overwhelmingly white rather
Over the following decade manufacturing than indigenous or Afro-Latino,
and selling operations were started in had money to spend on consumer
Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico and Brazil. Direct products beyond essentials. Beauty
selling was perfect for Latin America. In products were not big ticket items;
most countries, there were few department they delivered instant pleasure;
stores and only fragmented retail channels. and they were closely associated
Direct selling by sales representatives with the aspirational glamor and
enabled Avon to reach women in their economic success of the United
workplaces and homes. States and Europe, to which so
By 1960 Avon had secured strong many urban Latin Americans were
market positions in many countries, attracted.
including Venezuela, where it controlled Over time, as the beauty
half of the cosmetics market. Even today business became established, it
nearly one-third of all beauty sales in also acquired a life of its own.
Latin America are made through direct Beauty salons and institutes
sales, compared to five percent in Western flourished. The beauty industry,
Europe and less than ten percent in North although rightly condemned
12 ReVista SPRING 2017BODY IMAGE AND THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY
a medical school.
In the United States, the firm was a pioneer in Brazil in particular saw a cluster of
local beauty companies formed with health
using African-Americans in advertisements from and sustainability concerns. O Boticário
1966 onwards, though it was not until 1970 that the was founded in 1977 by Bolivian-born
Miguel Krigsner as a small pharmacy in
first Afro-Latinos appeared in advertisements in the city of Curitiba in the state of Paraná.
Brazil. Avon did, however, recruit darker skinned Krigsner’s vision was to provide a pleasant
environment where people felt good
Brazilians as sales representatives much earlier. about themselves. The original shop had
a carpeted room with seating and coffee
by feminists and others for imposing industry came to serve as one avenue for for those who wanted to wait while their
restrictive ideals of beauty on women and women to enter the workforce and earn prescriptions were made up. Krisgner
making them constantly dissatisfied, was incomes was not the only paradox in the quickly got into cosmetics. In 1979 he
also a means out of poverty for many Latin Latin American industry. In some respects, opened his brand’s first exclusive shop
American women. They could earn extra the industry became as associated with at Curitiba airport, selling perfume and
income as direct sales representatives or by wellness as with cosmetic adornment. cosmetics. Within a few years, the small
manicuring nails in tiny salons. Meanwhile The levels of cosmetic plastic surgery pharmacy had grown to into a big business
winning a beauty contest became the seen today in the region may justifiably with 4,000 franchised shops in Brazil
equivalent to winning the lottery. Beauty be seen as obsessive, as well as frequently targeting the upper-middle segments of
pageants became big business. As dangerous because of the large informal the market through eco-friendly products.
television came to the sub-continent, they and illegal component of that industry, In 1990, the firm established a non-profit
attracted good audiences, so television but the origins were more benign. Ivo organization to preserve the natural
companies invested in promoting them. Pitanguy, the founder of the Brazilian environment.
The Pomona College historian Miguel industry, earned the respect of his fellow Social and environmental responsibility
Tinker-Salas has linked the advent of citizens by providing his skills free of was a principal concern of what became
Venezuela’s large beauty industry to the charge to victims of a disaster when a huge the largest Latin American beauty
growth of the Cisneros business group, circus tent burned hundreds of spectators company. Natura was established in 1969
the owner of the Venevision channel, from in the city of Niteroi in 1961. Pitanguy was by Antonio Luiz da Cunha Seabra as a
the 1980s. a passionate believer in trying to counter small laboratory and cosmetics store in the
The self-reinforcing nature of the “the stigma of deformity.” Although he city of São Paulo. The company adopted
beauty industry is evident in Venezuela, built a well-renowned celebrity business, a direct selling model in 1974. Guilherme
whose citizens became frequent winners over the following decades he continued Leal and Pedro Passos later joined the
of international beauty contests. Avon and to offer his staff and services free of charge business, forming an unusual three-man
Venevision may have created the industry, to less well-off patients one day a week. leadership, which the company asserted
but over time a whole infrastructure Quite a number of the locally owned represented its soul, mind and body.
developed to prepare young women cosmetics firms which began to appear Natura’s direct selling business was a
for contests through enhancing their in the region had an early and persistent beneficiary of the so-called “lost decade”
appearances, often through surgery or commitment to sustainability, health of the 1980s, as many retailers collapsed,
hormones, public speaking skills, and and societal concerns. An early example while Natura was able to recruit thousands
much else. Venezuelan plastic surgeons was in Colombia. Labfarve laboratories of female sales representatives who needed
became world experts in a procedure was founded in 1971 by Jorge Piñeros a source of income. By 2005, when the firm
known as Boom Boom, which injected a Corpas, a prominent Colombian doctor went public with an IPO, it had revenues
woman’s own fat into her buttocks to make and scientist, who initially sought to of $1.5 billion and employed 480,000 sales
them bigger. The chances of appearing, make more affordable medicines for the consultants throughout the country. By
and succeeding, in television reality shows poorer sections of society using plants and 2017 it had 1.6 billion consultants in Brazil.
were said to have driven young women to traditional practices, sourcing ingredients Seabra and his colleagues were at the
steal to pay for operations. The rewards for from the peoples of the Amazon. The forefront of social and environmental
winners were dazzling, for careers opened company soon diversified into cosmetics responsibility. In contrast to the perceived
up for them as models and television and has made multiple innovations, stereotypes of Brazilian body-worshipping,
presenters, and even occasionally in including developing a natural Botox from Natura criticized exploitative advertising
politics. an extract of the acmella plant. The wider and exaggerated promises. In 1992 the
The fact that the postwar beauty Corpas Group now includes a hospital and company launched the concept of “The
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 13BEAUTY Truly Beautiful Woman” which asserted that beauty was not a matter of age but of self-esteem. This was more than a decade before Unilever’s much-hyped Dove campaign which featured pictures of seniors, larger women and other unconventional beauty models. Natura was also concerned with the use of sustainable methods and ingredients. In 2000 the company launched the Ekos brand, made from Brazilian biodiversity products in a sustainable way. In 2007 it was a founding member of the non-profit Union for Ethical Bio-Trade. Leal, one of the partners, was personally prominent in the Brazilian section of the World Wildlife Fund, and even stood as the Green Party vice-presidential candidate in Marina Silva’s unsuccessful campaign in 2010. In 2014 the firm became the largest (by then it had sales of $2.6 billion), and first publicly traded company, to obtain B Corp certification, designed to encourage the highest standards of environmental and social stewardship and transparency in business. Latin America was not preordained by a stereotyped culture to be a temple of beauty. The industry grew at a specific time, and was shaped in a specific way by corporate actors. Its impact was as contradictory as the region itself. It imposed restrictive notions of beauty on generations of women, almost certainly intensified rather than challenged racism, and created cultures in which breast implants and buttocks injections were the societal norm. It peddled unrealistic dreams. Yet it was also an industry which provided income to hundreds of thousands of people, primarily women. And it provided the setting for some of the region’s (and indeed the world’s) most socially and environmentally progressive companies to flourish. Geoffrey Jones is Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at the Harvard Busi- ness School. His books include Beauty Imagined (Oxford University Press, 2010). His most recent book, Profits and Sustainability:A History of Green Entre- preneurship (Oxford University Press), will be published this spring. 14 ReVista SPRING 2017 PHOTO BY JUNE CAROLYN ERLICK.
BODY IMAGE AND THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY
The Culture of Skinniness.
Skinny, Pretty...and Happy?”. Combating Anorexia and Bulimia in Medellín.
By LUCRECIA RAMÍREZ RESTREPO
ROSARIO IS 21 YEARS OLD AND A PERFECT SIZE 6. ropean concept of beauty with very skinny
A fifth-semester student in international models. All these fashion-related events ex-
business in Medellín, Colombia, she’s often erted much pressure over the city’s women.
thought of herself as fat. It all started when Many felt the need to combine thinness and
she was a child, and her parents encour- voluptuosity, as well as fitness—an impos-
aged her to lose weight the healthy way— sible task from the perspective of health.
through diet, exercise and good nutrition— Women found it necessary to use extreme
so she wouldn’t become overweight as an practices as starvation, exercise until ex-
adult since the tendency ran in her family. haustion, laxatives and plastic surgery.
But those paths didn’t seem to work for As the number of cases raised dra-
her. As she approached her teens, she hated matically, the city began a project for the
her body; she would measure her waist, prevention of Eating Disorders known as
arms and hips after each and every shower. “Skinny, Pretty...and Happy?” in 1997. This
She finally discovered vomiting—which we program focused on gender equity and the
know more technically as bulimia. Then development of economic, social and cul-
came diet pills and laxatives. When she tural rights of women as a way of struggling
turned sixteen, she convinced her par- against objectification and dependence on
ents to finance liposuction and breast en- physical appearance.
largement. But it was a constant battle to The program began in the Women’s
maintain her weight: two hours daily of Mental Health Academic Group in the
exercise, pills and starvation. A classmate Psychiatric Department at the University
died of what some said was anorexia—self- of Antioquia, and in the government of the
induced starvation. But despite the shadow of Antioquia (Hospital San Vincent de civic movement Compromiso Ciudadano
of a possibly dangerous eating disorder, Paul)—were considered “exotic.” Two fac- led by Mayor Sergio Fajardo (2004-2007).
Rosario kept up her regimen to keep her tors came into play: drug trafficking and The program was incorporated in the pro-
figure—to please her family and boyfriend the development of Medellín as a fashion grammatic line “women’s development,”
and to compete with classmates. center, both of which fostered the ideal of which brought together civil society or-
Rosario is a composite figure of the extreme thinness, but at the same time ganizations.
young women we see on a daily basis at our sexiness and fitness. The entire intervention had three stag-
outpatient psychiatric clinic in Medellín. The irruption of narcotrafficking at the es: first with comprehension of the problem
Body image is not just a passing concern beginning of the ‘80s in Medellín meant (1999-2003), then with implementation of
of adolescents: it affects women (and to a very deep and traumatic political, so- the program (2004-2007), and finally with
a much lesser degree, men) in terms of cial and cultural change and fracture in extensive evaluation (2008).
self-worth, relationships, sexuality, human our society. Drug kings sought to express In order to understand the scope of the
development and even productivity. It’s not their “new power” by buying whatever they problem, two studies looked at the issue,
just that Rosario invested time and money wanted: in particular, beautiful women, the first one in 1999, in which almost 1,000
in staying very thin; that’s time and energy in the style of the voluptuous Pamela An- high school girls from five elite schools
she could have spent on her studies and derson and the like, associated with the were enrolled in workshops, conversation
personal enrichment. American beauty of those times. Women programs with parents, and lectures. The
The pressures generally come from were exhibited as trophies. A little later, one University of Antioquia study found that
three sources: mass media, parents and the projects that the Medellín establish- 77 percent of the girls were horrified at the
schoolmates. It wasn’t always this way. ment came up with was the presentation idea of gaining weight; 41 percent indulged
During the 1980s and until the mid-90s, of the city as the Milan of Latin America, in binge eating; 33 percent felt guilty after
cases of anorexia and bulimia at our clin- creating a Fashion Show and three fairs eating; 16 percent felt that food controlled
ic—attached to the prestigious University that featured beauty along the lines of a Eu- their lives; 8 percent reported self-induced
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 15BEAUTY
vomiting. The school study sounded the or appreciation and more in the context of
alarm about the severity of eating disorders self-worth. There’s an emphasis placed on
in Medellín, but it certainly wasn’t a rep- kindness and self-development, as well as
resentative study because it included only beauty. But that’s far from suggesting that
the schools that had called to participate. the problem has gone away.
A second, more comprehensive study Femininity is still closely associated
in 2003 using a representative sample of with beauty, so now you’ll hear phrases
adolescent students, found that in Medel- like “I want to be a great professional, but
lín, 33 percent of them were at increased not give up being feminine in the process”
risk for eating disorders. The study found or “I want to be my own person, but also
that the risk was not related to how wealthy to be seen as beautiful by others.” In ad-
or poor the girls were or type of school, temporary capacities and what it means dition, women still see appearance as a
public or private, mixed or feminine. The for a 21st- century woman to be accepted key to getting a good job or getting ahead
prevalence of the illness estimated those at in society. in general. Today, in the 21st century, de-
high risk to be 31 percent. That compared Finally, a citizens’ network for social spite all the interventions and progress,
with 5 percent in Spain and 10.2 percent responsibility was created from health in- the culture is giving its (young) women
in the United States at the time. The study stitutions, universities, gyms, schools, local this message: “It doesn’t matter how in-
also confirmed the previously described television and print media, dance acad- telligent, capable, honest, hard-working,
risk factors as bullying or teasing about emies, modeling agencies and artists, to collaborative, compassionate,. attentive
weight issues, previous obesity or obesity in make them aware of the role they might and diligent you are...if you are not pretty,
the family, and negative comments (some- play in fomenting (or preventing) eating you’re worthless....whatever effort you put
times well-intentioned) by friends or family disorders and introduce structural changes into being beautiful is justified because
members about body appearance. in their own businesses in order to contrib- in this way we guarantee your inclusion,
Then, the program used three main ute to decrease the social pressure on the recognition and opportunities.”
strategies, to go beyond direct work with idea that women have to be skinny to be Beauty continues to be seen as thin-
adolescents. The idea was to make the en- desirable, recognized and happy. ness. Interviews with adolescents reveal
vironment more friendly to diverse body The project, for example, resulted in a a lack of consensus about the marketing
types and stopping the promotion of the rule that models had to undergo a nutri- of skinniness. Some observe they have
ideal of skinniness. tional evaluation before they could partici- role models in fashion or television who
First, a continuous two-year public pate in the 2007 fashion fair Colombiamo- are far from thin; they even observe that
health campaign used television, radio, da. The Institute for Exports and Fashion pleasantly plump is becoming fashionable.
newspapers and ads plastered on billboards (Inexmoda) developed the regulations with But many others insist that social pressure
in the city (roads, metro stations, bus stops) the support of the network of eating dis- makes them want to be thin at any cost.
to denounce the skinniness culture. Catchy order activists. Since these fashion icons This variety of opinions is a little bit
images showed strange-looking “skinny” provide role models for teenagers, the in- of progress. The model of prevention of
elephants, rhinos and zebras, with the cap- stitute banned models with extremely low eating disorders developed by the city of
tion, “It looks weird, right?…and you, how body mass index (BMI, the proportion of Medellín was innovative because it starts
do you look?” Later, in the phase of social fat to height and weight). This rule—an with the premise that these disturbances
awareness, the text of the billboard warned, act of social responsibility—represented are profoundly rooted in the ideas societies
“Hey! Be careful!, The skinniness culture a powerful acknowledgment that fashion hold about women. In the end, after ten
has fomented anorexia and bulimia, a so- plays a significant part in establishing what years of combating the thin beauty ideal,
cially contagious illness.” Later, in the re- is beautiful. In the sector of fitness clubs, the rates of developing eating disorders
sistance phase, captions declared, “Even if Bodytech, a national chain, eliminated all have dropped when social pressures over
the skinniness culture is powerful, there is photos of abnormally thin women, substi- women’s body appearance has been re-
no such power greater than the resistance tuting more normal and diverse women as duced. There’s hope for breaking the con-
capacity of society.” a sign of a socially responsible attitude for cept of “thin is beautiful, and the thinner,
In addition, the educational sector con- women’s life and wellbeing. the better, and beauty leads to happiness.”
ducted 273 workshops in 425 high schools, Things are changing slowly, as a care-
which worked with 3.294 adult men and ful data-based monitoring process of the Lucrecia Ramírez Restrepo is a clinical
women (teachers and parents) through project in 2008 indicated. Adolescents are psychiatrist in Medellín, retired profes-
569 institutional projects they design and now developing an evolving concept of sor at the Psychiatric Department at the
implemented, to develop new concepts of femininity. Women are less frequently per- University of Antioquia, who specializes
femininity, female beauty, women’s con- ceived just as objects for others’ pleasure in eating disorders.
16 ReVista SPRING 2017 REVISTA ARCHIVESBODY IMAGE AND THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY
Should I Eat the Chocolate Cake?
Weight and Body Image in Latin American Women’s Texts
By RENÉE S. SCOTT
WHEN PEOPLE LEARN THAT I RESEARCH THE literature (Escritoras uruguayas: una with a blind man. One day her lover
representation of food and weight in antología critica, 2002), I came across announces that he plans to seek a cure
Latin American women’s literature, they the short story “Inmensamente Eunice” for his blindness. Afraid that once he
frequently ask me two questions. (Immensely Eunice, 1999) by Andrea recovers his sight, he will be horrified by
The first question is how I became Blanqué. The story is about a fat, her large body, Eunice embarks on various
interested in such an untraditional single woman. We read about Eunice’s diets to lose weight. She is successful.
topic. The answer goes back to the year challenging job search, because potential At the conclusion of the story, the man
2000, when I was evaluating texts for employers don’t like her size, and also does in fact recovers his sight, but in an
an anthology on Uruguayan women’s about her satisfying romantic relationship ironic twist, rejects her new, thin body,
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 17BEAUTY
and thus she loses the affection of the economic and intellectual oppression (2009), most of the fiction works on
only man who ever truly paid attention that patriarchal society imposes on women’s weight and eating disorders
to her. Blanqué’s text intrigued me, and women in her “Respuesta a Sor Filotea” in Latin America have been written in
I began to wonder whether there were (Reply to Sor Philotea, 1691). More Argentina and Mexico, although a few
other texts that dealt with contemporary recently, since the 1980s, authors such come from Chile, Guatemala, Puerto
society’s obsession with the slender body. as Mexican Laura Esquivel, in her famous Rico and Uruguay. The fact that the
As Naomi Wolf proposes so eloquently 1989 novel Como agua para chocolate majority are from Argentina and Mexico
in The Beauty Myth (1991), the relentless [Like Water for Chocolate], present is not surprising, considering their large
emphasis on women’s physical appearance the kitchen as a self-empowering site, populations and their active feminist
can trap them in an endless cycle of where women develop alliances with scenes (organizations, magazines, etc.).
insecurity, and self-hatred of their own each other and freely express their own Also, in examining Mexico, we need to
bodies, regardless of all the professional subjectivity. Nevertheless, as I found consider the influence of its neighbor,
and personal progress that has been out in my search, texts that specifically the United States, which has its own
achieved since the women’s liberation address food and weight emerge only in highly feminist sensibilities. Interestingly
movement. Even though the use of food the 1990s. A younger generation of female enough, the majority of these texts have
and women’s weight in Latin American authors has now turned its attention to yet to be translated into English, or even
fictional texts as a tool to criticize the the exclusion and marginalization of the recognized outside the countries where
cultural emphasis on thinness is a relative heavier woman, criticizing in its texts they were published, for that matter.
new occurrence, the topic of food being current notions of beauty, and proposing The second question I am often asked
used to express gender concerns is a feminine identity on their own terms. is if there is even an issue with weight in
certainly not new. As early as the 17th- Several writers explore bulimia as well, Latin America. “Don’t Latin American
century Mexican writer Sor Juana Inés attesting to more recent social interest men like their women meaty?” is the
de la Cruz uses food, and cooking, as an in eating disorders. Thus far, as I posit in common refrain. This question is much
expressive device to convey the social, What is Eating Latin American Writers? more complicated to answer than the
18 ReVista SPRING 2017 REVISTA ARCHIVESBODY IMAGE AND THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY
the aforementioned Como agua para
As Naomi Wolf proposes so eloquently in The chocolate, a text that popularized food
discourse in Latin America. Set on a
Beauty Myth (1991), the relentless emphasis on ranch on the Mexican-U.S. border during
women’s physical appearance can trap them in an the Mexican Revolution, the book—a
combination of narrative and cooking
endless cycle of insecurity, and self-hatred of their recipes—tells the doomed love story of
own bodies, regardless of all the professional and Tita de la Garza and Pedro Muzquiz,
who cannot marry because according to
personal progress that has been achieved since the a family tradition, Tita, as the youngest
women’s liberation movement. daughter, must remain single to take
care of her aging mother. Pedro marries
her older sister Rosaura to stay close to
first. The term gordita (fatty) is indeed Tita, and she utilizes the book’s cooking
an endearment that men commonly use recipes to prepare delicious and sensual
to address their wives, girlfriends and dishes to retain Pedro’s love. Although
sisters, suggesting a more accepting the novel vindicates a woman’s role in
attitude towards women’s body size. In the kitchen, the representation of its
her study of fatness in Caribbean culture female characters reflects dominant
and literature, “Así me gustas gordita” (I cultural prejudices. Tita is revealed as a
like you plump, 2005), Emily Branden woman of strikingly youthful freshness
points out that Latin American men and arresting proportions: “her breasts
indeed do appreciate a more voluptuous moved freely, since she never wore a
female body. However, the fat they love brassiere, while her sister Rosaura is
is concentrated in specific parts of the their countries. Nine out of ten sufferers so fat and grotesque that Pedro would
body, specifically large breasts, wide hips, of bulimia and anorexia are women, and rather sleep in another bedroom than
and curved rears. And in the study on the Colombian expert commented that in with her.” Clearly, Esquivel’s objective is
fatness acceptance, “Que gordita: A Study the city of Medellin, for example, where to accentuate poetic justice by contrasting
of Weight Among Women in a Puerto many young girls aspire to be models, the beautiful heroine who is forced to
Rican Community,” Emily Massara finds 17% of them suffer from some kind of relinquish the man she loves with the
that women think they have a weight- eating disorder. anti-heroine who marries him. And
appropriate body if they retain a visible Women today face a cruel conundrum. yet, the notion that only the young and
waistline and also associate weight with On the one hand, they are still expected to slender body is attractive to men contrasts
fertility and well-being; but Massara’s be the principal providers of nourishment drastically with her attempt to put forth
findings are only based on the responses for their families; therefore, they must a feminist narrative.
of a group of Puerto Rican immigrants stay close to food. On the other hand, they Afrodita (Aphrodite, 1999), b y
living in the Philadelphia area. It is clear, are under constant pressure to manage bestselling author Isabel Allende, is a
from reading Latin American magazines their weight in order to be “presentable” light and humorous book of personal
and watching television, that the beauty and conform to the physical silhouette anecdotes, literary texts and cooking
image consistently promoted in these promulgated by the media and gender recipes that exhorts women to abandon
outlets is that of a young, thin woman. The industries. their inhibitions and pursue the pleasures
only exception seems to be the archetypal Generational differences appear in of the flesh. Nevertheless, multiple
mother, grandmother or trusted maid in the ways various Latin American authors negative references regarding weight,
the soap operas, given acceptance as fat approach female size issues. Older writers which go hand in hand with mass
and lovable. It is worth noting that the (born in the 1940s and 1950s, before the culture messages, do not conform to the
2011 seminar in Miami “Soy hermosa, social gains of the women’s liberation book’s initial liberated proposal. Allende
libre de preocupaciones relacionadas con movement) tend to display a conflictive repeatedly laments not being able to enjoy
la comida y mi cuerpo” (I am pretty, free attitude towards appearance and weight, the delicious desserts she includes in the
of worries related to food and my body) even as they overtly make a distinctive book because she does not want to gain
brought together experts from Colombia, attempt to accept their bodies as they weight. She confesses that she bought sexy
Venezuela, El Salvador and the United are. Younger authors (born in the 1960s lingerie “to veil [her] cellulite,” and even
States to discuss weight issues and the and later), are more likely to reject social though she believes that licking chocolate
sharp increase in eating disorders in norms regarding women’s size. Consider mousse off a lover’s skin is highly sensual,
REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 19You can also read
