Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

When critiquing harmful beauty practices becomes an ahistorical media spectacle: A reading of Jessica Simpson's "The Price of Beauty"

By Rachael Liberman In what appears to be a inauthentic contrast to its current menu of celebrity reality programming, VH1 has begun airing a program titled Jessica Simpson’s The Price of Beauty, which is summarized by Simpson in the following statement from the beginning sequence of the program: “I’m going to travel the world and see what makes a woman from different cultures feel beautiful.” Simpson, the singer-turned-reality show star who has been recently ostracized by media outlets for relationship...