Jefferson, Deana, and Jayne Stake.

Appearance Self-Attitudes of African American and

European American Women: Media Comparison and Internalization of Beauty Ideals.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33 (2009), 396-409.

Both of the authors are doctors of psychology and worked for University of Missouri- St. Louis.
Jayne Stake received her Ph.D. for Clinical Psychology at Arizona State University and Deana L.
Jefferson received her Ph.D. at University of Missouri- St. Louis. Together they created
Appearance Self-Attitudes of African American and European American Women: Media
Comparison and Internalization of Beauty Ideals, in the journal Psychology of Women
Quarterly. The study observed differences in the body image of 80 AA women and 89 EA
women n with an improved methodology that controlled for body size, distinguished between
satisfaction with and importance of body features, and included nonweight (e.g., hair texture,
skin color) as well as weight-related features.(396) Their findings concluded that overall women
were dissatisfied with their bodies due to Western beauty ideals. The findings also show
European American women were more dissatisfied with their bodies compared to African
American women. The studies showed they compared themselves to media more in result they
found their body and certain features dissatisfying. The ongoing conversation they introduce is
the question, does this ideal beauty vary in race? There findings show it does.

Not only did they view themselves as being further from their ideal weight and body
size than did AA women (with BMI controlled), they also indicated that achieving their

ideal weight and shape was of greater importance to them. (405)

As discussed earlier, thinness is the epitome of beauty in Western culture, a standard that
is reinforced by EA families, peers, and other social agents. In contrast, there is evidence
that in the AA community a broader range of body types and a more inclusive notion of
beauty is accepted, allowing for appreciation of AA womens individuality and unique

characteristics(406)
Perhaps then, AA women tend to dismiss the appearance standards portrayed in the
mainstream media because they see few representations of themselves there.(406)

Analysis: I feel the reader must use their critical reading for this journal because it is long.
Therefor remaining focused, remembering what the author said and how the reader analyzed it is
difficult. The read was slightly difficult, the authors used few words that the average viewer may
be unfamiliar with and the average reader would have a hard time deciphering a scientific article.
Like before I would suggest to read abstract, methods or conclusion then the result. The topic is
very applicable for my question. In contributes the idea that ALL women are affected by the
standards of beauty. Someone who is interested in beauty in different races could use the results
from this study to determine how different race view beauty.