Beauty, Virtue, Power, and Success in Venezuela 1850–2015

Beauty, Virtue, Power, and Success in Venezuela 1850–2015 examines the societal duty of Venezuelan women to display and perform their inner virtue and worth through careful management of their outer physical appearance in four historical moments: 1850–1890, 1910–1950, 1960–1990, and 2000–2015. Since the early 1800’s, Venezuelan women—and more specifically, their bodies—have served as physical symbols of homeland, honor, and morality. Nichols contextualizes her study socially and historically by examining the impact of cultural phenomena like nineteenth-century eugenics, scientific motherhood, popular and elite literature, film, beauty pageants, and plastic surgery. This book tells the story of how Venezuelan women have learned to exercise and perform to societal expectations of beauty. Recommended for scholars of Latin American studies, women’s studies, gender studies, sociology, and history.