Cosmopolitan Race Analysis

Cosmopolitan Magazine's notoriety is mostly based upon displaying the "most beautiful" women in the world. This magazine gives young women a standard of beauty to strive for, although it is realistically unattainable. Therefore, it was chosen as the site of study due to it's popularity and provision of the hegemonic notions of what is beautiful. Looking through the October and November issues of Cosmopolitan magazine, over 150 advertisements were found. Most were for makeup and fragrances, featuring white women in every single one, almost interchangeably. The body type and bone structure of these women made them look as though they share the same gene pool. Out of the approximate 150 advertisements, eleven featured an African-American woman in the photographs. This portion of the assignment uncovers the reality that Black women are oppressed in that they are not allowed an opportunity to even be featured in the hegemonic ideologies of "true" beauty.…