Beauty
We recognized "beauty" as a theme throughout Montez's "The Arts of Beauty; or, Secrets of a Lady's Toilet" for its heavy focus on achieving set beauty standards and its inclusion of detailed approaches to meeting these goals. Beauty is in constant flux and evolution, and it is determined by culture and time. It is subjective to any one person. The ideals and set requirements of beauty vary between every person. Montez highlights beauty goals and step by step descriptions for both women nd men, illustrating the diversity surrounding defining beauty and emphasizing the importance of it to each person. Beaity is not simple or obvious, and Montez discusses taste with regards to attraction and success in reaching her set goals. Intersectionality connects greatly with concepts of beauty; discussions surrounding the perpetuation of the socially constructed beauty standards and norms are wroth further exploration.
“It is a most difficult task to fix upon any general and satisfactory standard of female beauty, since forms and qualities the most opposite and contradictory are looked upon by different nations, and by different individuals, as the perfection of beauty” (Montez, 19).
Within our exploration of "beauty" as a theme, further questioning surrounding how Western standards of beauty define themselves and are possibly redefined in he text arose. Definitions and ideals of beauty differ by location, by country, and by smaller communities, but Western preferences and expectations have greatly influenced others. Additionally, surrounding the concepts of intersectionality and positionlity, we were interested in exploring their roles within definitions of beauty. Just as beauty varies across locations, people's beliefs, practices, and personal preferences are important to recognize and take into consideration.