Female beauty standards form a reference model of how women should look. Centred around the slim ideal and desires of the male gaze, modern expectations of women require their bodies to be thin and flawless. These ideals are pushed through digitally manipulated photographs in mass media enforcing ideas of beauty that are impossible to meet, leaving many women underrepresented. This dissertation aims to explore how the male gaze affects representations of women and how contemporary female photographers are challenging patriarchal beauty standards by normalising honest and unedited depictions of women through a female gaze. This dissertation finds that the male gaze and gender stereotypes are key contributors to the creation and upkeep of female beauty standards. With the photography industry still heavily led by male photographers, women continue to be viewed through a male gaze in mass media. Female photographers are changing the way women are viewed and presented through the exposure of imagery from a female gaze perspective.
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