Society’s Dissatisfaction with Aberrant Beauty!

Every individual is judged by his or her aberrance from the norm of beauty; that’s when sociological imagination appears to explain the nonconforming behavior. Humans act by their nature, and we all are actors who play our role in life. The question of to whom we offer respect is controlled by the social status. Individual achievement that we create and personal choice to present who we are, are the way to define our self, such as graduating, having a respectful job and achieving a dream. We define each other by how we look and by what we do. Everything we do adds to our status in society. Difference must appear so we can define each other. We are born with blue or brown eyes, rich or poor, and with given names. God gives us His blessing by creating us as a human being so the life circle continues.

According to the author, poet, and playwright, Rabindranath Tagore, “Beauty is truth's smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror.” How do we define beauty? In my country perfect skin, wide eyes, tan color skin, and curvy body are defining the main ideal of Arabic beauty. Beauty obsession becomes a large issue that societies suffer from. There are strong pressures on people to be perfect because they want to present who they are in a fake way and accept being treated by the way they look. But yet there is a bright side of this beauty.

Make up, beauty salons, latest trends, jewelry, latest handbags, latest shoes and latest hair cuts are the main material culture, which is a favorite and hot topic these days. When I talk about these topics with my friends, we get excited and a lot of debates start. Qatari culture is really concerned about the appearance. Girls are wearing the latest model of abaya and boys are wearing the bright new Thoub. Male beauty in Qatari culture is taking on greater emphasis, although not as strongly as women’s beauty, but quite fair. Qatari man likes to wear new watches, new sunglasses, new cufflinks, and new soles. Also, they often go to the barber to shave their beard or get a hair cut.

People’s choices of custom and clothing are depending on society to present their cultural tradition and values. Qatar is a nation with high culture, in which there is luxury and splendor because of high income that came from the gas and modernity. With the rising economy Qatar’s modernization included the clothing for both men and women. The cultural values are still in the society. Furthermore, people kept on developing without forgetting their religion and tradition. For example, Qatari women still cover their bodies and they translate the old customs into a new design of body and hair covering. Wearing the abaya is not for religious matters because there are Muslim women who are covering their bodies without the abaya in other countries. However, Qatar society expects Qatari women to wear the abaya in order to be loyal to the country’s tradition.

What happens when thinking of beauty goes too far?
On weddings

At wedding parties Qatari women exaggerate their make up and wear the latest designed dress. Lack of confidence and fear of not getting accepted in the society led the women to spend a fortune on the wedding supplies, such as the latest wedding dress, famous make up artist and hair dresser, which causes a series of problems for men and increases the number of unmarried women because women demand a high dowry to arrange their imagined wedding and men can’t afford it.


“An estimated report presented by Abdul Aziz al-Ansari, the director of the Marriage Bureau located in Doha, stated that nearly 50% of the Qatari women are unmarried…. The biggest hurdle in arranging a partner is due to the high dowry demands by the bride's family” (Himadree, par.2, 4). Women obsess over beauty, exaggerate, and have a strong feeling to be perfect that has led them to never experience the beautiful touchable moments that they will get to when they marry. In role conflict women can take a role by their actions, being mature and balancing their beauty needs. Is it worth it to spend this amount of money? This depends on the goal that they want to achieve.


Religious point of view
In Islam wasting money is forbidden, yet some people do that, and guilt may cause an ongoing series of problems. The ideal society is built on the human relations and their organized interests. Also, it is characterized by its ideas, values and morals, law and systems, which establish boundaries and stop these problems from happening.



Work cited
Himadree, C. “ Spinsterhood Among Qatar Women On The Rise. “The Muslim Woman. 19 July 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2011.