Identifying Ugliness, Defining Beauty: A Focus Group Analysis of and Reaction to Ugly Betty

Authors

Adria Goldman, Gordon State College
Damion Waymer, Texas A&M UniversityFollow

Abstract

This article discusses the ideological construct “beauty” that permeates our society by focusing specifically on socially constructed ideals of beauty and ugliness as they are represented in media text, specifically, in the TV sitcom Ugly Betty. For this study we conducted focus group interview sessions to explore the influence an alternative representation of beauty and ugliness, as portrayed in the show Ugly Betty, has on college aged females’ definition and interpretation of beauty—typically questions explored using traditional experimental and other quantitative methods. Moreover, this study provides insights into tensions surrounding how beauty and ugliness are defined and the implications of these definitions for women.

Keywords

Beauty, Ugly, Ugliness, Media, Focus Groups, Sitcoms, Ugly Betty

Publication Date

3-10-2014

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1263

Recommended APA Citation

Goldman, A., & Waymer, D. (2014). Identifying Ugliness, Defining Beauty: A Focus Group Analysis of and Reaction to Ugly Betty. The Qualitative Report, 19(10), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1263