Chapter 25

This chapter claims that advertisers are responsible for portraying what a beautiful woman looks like. In order to do this, advertisers have to use the concept of the provocateur. A provocateur is an ideal image that arouses feeling or reaction. This image is most likely to show youth (no wrinkles), sexuality, and seduction. The provocateur is the female figure that women are compared to every day. This image defines what women wear and how they wear their hair. Many women are not accepted in our society because of their failure to adapt to the idealistic, yet unrealistically perfect image. As much as anyone tries to look like a perfect model, it will never happen. The provocateur is just a reminder of what a real woman will never look like. It is every woman's fantasy. Women are able to buy as many beauty products and they can, but they cannot buy long legs, unblemished skin, and perfect hair. Photographers and advertisers use cosmetics, airbrush tools, and photography to create this perfect image. Women succumb to this unrealistic image, because they believe that it is the only way to capture a man's heart. The provocateur image is just another way to portray women as sex objects. As much as this can hurt women, men do not seem to mind because it pleases them. Once again, fashion is used to make men more powerful.