The Gender Politics of Physical Beauty and Racial Integration: Comments on D. C. Matthew's “Racial Integration and the Problem of Relational Devaluation”

Abstract In response to D. C. Matthew's article “Racial Integration and the Problem of Relational Devaluation,” I assess the politics of physical beauty in the intersection between the categories of race and gender. I scrutinize Matthew's contention that being perceived to be physically attractive reliably results in either good treatment or high self-esteem. I argue that, on the contrary, gender can function as a means of social control, in which the appraisal of women's bodies yields neither good treatment nor improves their self-esteem. This problem can persist among self-segregated intra-group racial communities.