Ostentation or Visibility: A Cultural Study of Consumption of Cosmetics by Iranian Young Women

Abstract

This paper studies the meanings and connotations using cosmetics among Iranian young women. A salient phenomenon in contemporary Iran is the overuse of cosmetics by women. This has culminated in raising concerns by religious figures, social critics, government authorities, and physicians. These are all happening in post-revolutionary Iran in which according to Islamic rules, women are expected not to expose their body and ornaments. Therefore, the paradox of living under Islamic laws and the will to be modern is concerned / addressed / discussed here. How, then, Iranian young women interpret their make-up, whether as ostentation, as resistance against dominant ideology, as distinction from others or as the result of new global media influence is explained in the research.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s3p182