Two ASU students are studying abroad this summer to explore beauty standards in the Dominican Republic, where they will be filming a documentary bringing attention to a worldwide issue: beauty standards.
Journalism sophomore Megann Phillips said the topic of beauty standards caught her attention during a previous trip to Peru, where a simple advertisement sparked a question of how people defined beauty in different parts of the world.
Phillips said the first advertisement she saw when she got off the plane in Peru featured a tall, skinny, white, blonde woman.
"The vast majority of the population (in Peru) does not look like that at all,” she explained. “I asked myself: What are they telling these women to be like? These women could easily begin to obsess over unchangeable and perfectly beautiful aspects of themselves — not just their body types, but skin color and eye color also.”
Jenny Butzbach, a nonprofit leadership and management sophomore in Barrett, the Honors College, said the pair chose the Dominican Republic because of how different it was from places like America and Europe.
“We wanted a different perspective and thought that the history and culture of the Dominican Republic would be an awesome point of view,“ Butzbach said.
Butzbach said while in the Dominican Republic, they hope to gather information about the definition of beauty and film a series of documentaries over the course of their trip.
"When we are in the (Dominican Republic), we will be taking 15-16 credits,” Butzbach said. “Apart from going to school, we will interview people we come into contact with in the (Dominican Republic). We simply want to see how they define beauty and what they believe shapes the definition for them. We want to make a documentary that shows that beauty isn’t one set definition, but so many aspects go into it.”
Although the project is still in its beginning stages of research and development, Phillips said she has already found some issues that have come to her attention.
"I’ve done a lot of online research about beauty standards in the Dominican Republic, and from what I’ve read, Dominicans are very conscious of their hair and the way they look in general,” she said. “They take a lot of pride in their appearance, and they visit the hair salons three or four times a week, where they put a lot of effort into changing the way their hair naturally looks.”
Phillips said she wants to know why the women won’t embrace their natural hair and said a topic like this will be explored throughout the project.
Butzbach and Phillips both said the research behind the project has definitely had a personal impact on them both.
“One of my main personal experiences that has influenced me in this process is due to the fact that some of my friends have developed eating disorders because they do not feel beautiful, “ Butzbach said. “They were striving to be perfect and ended up endangering themselves in the process. To me this is one of the main reasons I am doing this documentary because I want people to know that you don’t have to be a certain way to be beautiful.”
Friend and business sophomore JJ Williamson said he is impressed by the girl’s work and hopes that it teach others about beauty.
“I think the work they will be doing is amazing,” Williamson said. "Beauty is such a subjective thing in America, but the media has put a standard of what beauty is that is unobtainable. I think their work will enlighten people and give them a true look at beauty.”
Phillips had an inspirational message for women about feeling beautiful and promoting self acceptance.
“Stop focusing on what you like on the outside,” Phillips said. “We shouldn’t strive to be Barbie. Every single woman needs to realize that they are beautiful.”
Butzbach agreed with Phiilips and said women should embrace who they are, despite what society might say.
“I think women strive to be what everyone else wants and I think it is so much more brave and beautiful to stand out from the crowd, “ Butzbach said. “I’ve learned that you will feel better about yourself if you don’t care what others think of you. You have to do what makes you feel beautiful and stay true to yourself, because if you are always chasing other peoples’ standards, you will never be happy.
Editor's note: Megann Phillips is a former State Press reporter, but was not involved in the reporting, writing or editing of this story.
Reach the reporter at sgreene6@asu.edu or follow @thesydneygreene on Twitter.
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