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Beauty and Healing: Examining Sociocultural Expectations of the Embodied Goddess

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Abstract

Studies indicate mental health improvement can occur via religious communities offering social support and other resources. Many people from many cultures regard medicine as a supernatural or magical treatment that can somehow lead to a better state of living. In medical advertising, female role portrayal involves the blending of beauty, ritual and attractiveness in combination with the best product image. A Chinese saying suggests that, “A girl will doll herself up for him who loves her.” Female role attraction is a very important ethical subject in gender issues. Moving forward in time, female role visualization and consumption in medical advertising reveal depictions that encouraged women to do some self-searching and find, or develop, inner strength. This study is designed to examine female role portrayals in a restricted patriarchal society. The results indicate that the ideology of motherhood is an accepted social orientation that the public readily identifies with. Results further indicate that beautification through medical products incorporates an emotional element of religious healing and that the objectification of beauty in the media reveals a possible neglect of women’s internal beauty.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to express our appreciation to Ms. Mong-Chun Wu and Ms. Hsiao-Ling Lin for their help in data collection. We would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Ferrell and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. Grateful acknowledgements are made to the following sources for the use of illustrations indicated: Fig. 1 credit: Master Yi-Lin; Fig. 2 credit: Jin-Tsann Yeh; Fig. 3 credit: Sandro Botticelli; Fig. 4 credit: Morishita Jintan Co., Ltd; Fig. 5 credit: Dcal Co., Ltd; Fig. 6 credit: China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Commercial Design, Vanung University, No. 1, Van-Nung Rd., Chung-Li, Tao-Yuan, 32061, Taiwan

    Jin-Tsann Yeh

  2. Department of Business Administration, Chung Yuan Christian University, No. 200, Chung Pei Rd., Chung-Li, Tao-Yuan, 32023, Taiwan

    Chyong-Ling Lin

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  1. Jin-Tsann Yeh
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Correspondence to Chyong-Ling Lin.

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Yeh, JT., Lin, CL. Beauty and Healing: Examining Sociocultural Expectations of the Embodied Goddess. J Relig Health 52, 318–334 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-011-9470-z

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