Lookism Role in Reality Shows Prevents Stereotypes

One afternoon I was sitting in front of my TV and flipping the channels. I was shocked when something strange was the common thing between three Channels. There were three different makeovers TV shows across them, they all targeted women only. First of all the term makeover is applied to changing one's appearance, sometimes through cosmetics. Makeovers can range from something as simple as a new haircut, to the use of cosmetic surgery, to the extreme of the implantation of dental veneers. Furthermore, this kind of TV show called “Reality Television” too, which is a genre of television programming.



So I chose to watch one of them, it was called “Ambush Makeover” aired from the US. While I’m watching, I noticed that from the beginning the episode’s title was “From Drab to Fab”. The word choice has a negative impact on me, describing the women as a dull because she has her own style wasn’t a quite decent thing. From this TV show, I’ve realized they try to generalize women in an indirect way. They demanding all women to stop them accidentally and put them in the spot. They force them to makeover them according to their beauty scale, which I noticed it appears in being a blond with straight hair, thin wearing full makeup and showing a lot of skin. By this makeover, the TV show leaves no choice to the contestant to choose her own look. It’s like they aiming to stop the beauty diversity in the US, which is extremely a big issue if you really see every women in the streets look alike. Another clue that supports my argument is that when the hairdresser stated “ Blonder, brighter and more golden”, as if he is defining the hair attractiveness in being a blond!


Another aspect they mentioned is that, a new look equals a new life and a new exciting personality. Well I have to argue this because women will become dull if they were all the same. People shouldn’t suffer from lookism, since America is a more looks-obsessed society than many others, and it is more looks-obsessed today than it was fifty years ago, or even ten; plastic surgery has quadrupled this decade, it started to reach our region and in Qatar specially. For a couple of months I’ve receiving a phone calls from new beauty salons in Qatar to provide me with a new free of charge makeover, which they were depicted from the American makeover shows and they try to apply their approach here in Qatar. However, it won’t work perfectly due to the differences in our body shapes and our darker skin, so they have to refashion their concept of being blonder is prettier. At the end the irony is that a makeunder is based on the opposite principle, removing artificial enhancements to a person's appearance to give a more 'natural' look, which is totally different in this situation. It becomes as a surveillance that monitors the women in our society and a way of preventing stereotypes. On the other hand, Blondes do not seem to have lost any of their popularity since the end of the last ice age. Research suggests that percentage of blondes in each type of magazine exceeds the base rate of blondes in the normal population. This would suggest that the selection pressures that shaped the standards of Western female beauty in the late-Palaeolithic are still the same today.

check it out!

Interesting and fun survey!

Surveillance in Qatar: A Mechanism of Social Control

Among many things, the basic human experience involves the interaction with other human beings. From the moment we take our first screaming gasp of air in the world to the moment we part it, we behave, interact, and communicate with other people for a specific purpose, in a particular way in any given time and place. How we behave, interact, and communicate with each other differ between two people, two groups, two societies, two nations, and so on – and these differences are part of the reason why human experiences all over the world are not identical. But just how different are they? How similar could they be? Well, we do not just decide to behave or act in a certain way. And we certainly do not come up with our own rules of behavior individually. Norms are socially constructed. And we are socialized to accept them and act upon them.





What is considered “right” or “wrong” in any given society, such as Qatar, is socially constructed, and there are mechanisms that enforce conformity to these socially constructed rules of behavior or norms. Mechanisms of social control include formal and informal sanctions. If you happen to be the employee of the month at a McDonald’s for example, your picture would be hung up on the wall in the restaurant, and you would receive a star badge. These are formal sanctions or expressions of approval that are supported by written rules by the organization. Formal sanctions can be expressions of disapproval as well.



Another form of social control is surveillance. Surveillance is everywhere in Qatar. In public places, malls, shopping centers, buildings, offices, streets, highways, petrol stations, restaurants, etc. Ferrante defines surveillance as a mechanism of social that involves “monitoring the movements, activities, conversations, and associations of people who are believed likely to engage in wrongdoing; catching those who engage in it; preventing people from engaging in it; and ensuring that the public is protected from wrongdoers,” (p. 176). Qatar has strict laws and guidelines about public behavior, and dress code. Surveillance is a method of ensuring that people follow these laws and do not deviate from them. If people sense that they are being watched, they are likely to refrain from performing any illicit or prohibited behavior.



Even though the cameras shown in the pictures that are commonly found all over Doha do not really show a camera perspective; meaning that you wouldn’t really know if the camera is watching you or not, people regard them as though they are constantly monitoring them regardless of whether they are in fact doing so. The effect is all the same. It prevents people from engaging in deviant behavior and helps catch those in the act of deviance if it occurs.




For example, in the convenient store, Sidra at Woqod petrol station, if someone attempts to shoplift or in my case take photos in the shop you are likely to be caught and negatively sanctioned. When I was pointing my phone around to snap some photos, the manager, who was nowhere in sight when I came in, came up to me and asked me if I belonged to some organization that had the authority to take pictures inside. He told me it was prohibited to take photos in the store, and that they will confiscate my phone if I continue to take any pictures. I withdraw from the scene and quietly put my phone away. However, that does not stop me from taking some more pictures inside the next-door McDonalds, outside the car wash, and other areas of the petrol station and food complex.




The purpose of these surveillance cameras inside McDonald’s would be to ensure that workers are not slacking on the job, are not stealing any food, and not eating or chatting while on their shift. Cleaners must diligently complete their work, servers must serve customers their food according to the written rules of the company, and even customers are monitored in case of any prohibited or illegal behavior such as vandalizing restaurant property, violence, theft, etc.




Universities in Education City are also packed with these cameras. You are likely to come across them in almost every corner, in front of every staircase, elevator, and around classrooms, offices and in hallways. They can also be found outdoors at entrances, in parking lots, and on the roads. There are important norms and rules that students, faculty and staff and even visitors (excluding members of education) should follow in education city.



The following list was forwarded via email to all Northwestern in Qatar students by the Associate Dean of Students:
“General reminders about appropriate conduct in Education City and generally in Qatar.

1. Interactions with the opposite gender which may be deemed culturally inappropriate (examples include but are not limited to public displays of affection, holding hands, kissing, etc.) are prohibited.
2. Eating, drinking or smoking in public spaces during the times of fasting in Ramadan are prohibited.
3. Clothing or lack thereof that is culturally inappropriate (e.g. shorts and skirts that reveal the knees, sleeveless or thin-strapped tops, clothing that is too revealing, being shirtless for males or females, etc.) is prohibited.
4. Residents and visitors must comply with reasonable requests/directives from QF officials and branch campus staff.
5. Residents and visitors may not obstruct QF Officials or law enforcement officers in the execution of their professional duties.
6. Language that is disrespectful or inappropriate directed towards members of the Education City community is prohibited.”



These cameras are a powerful mechanism of control that helps to prevent deviance from these norms, ensure conformity to them, and allow officers and security guards to deal with deviant people in the situation where the breaking any of these rules of behavior occurs.