追求美貌與變成母親：台灣女性的一個兩難──以高文憑的都會女性為例

Quest for Beauty and Becoming a Mother: A Painful Paradox for Highly Educated, Urban Taiwanese Women

此篇論文試圖探討台灣主流的正妹美感標準（zhenmei’s beauty ideal）如何多面向地影響女性的日常生活，並以高文憑的都會女性作為分析的對象。雖然台灣有著現代化的經濟，但在婚姻及因婚姻而來的家庭生活仍是十分重要，而一個符合正妹美感的外表大幅地影響她們在擇偶市場中的婚姻成敗，即使對有高文憑的職業女性也是如此，因此對外貌的追求深遠地影響了她們整個的生活。筆者以批判性的觀點下使用新自由主義（neoliberalism）來分析台灣女性對美的關注，並試圖強調，有關美或外貌在台灣的新自由主義脈絡下應被視為是女性「人為資本」（human capital）的重要構成因素，女性對外貌的經營在本文中被視為是一種「美學企業主義（aesthetic entrepreneurship）」。以此理論角度下，本文嘗試指出，因為「變成母親」而來的「身體」變化、「地位」變化及「可用資源」的變化（主要為金錢及時間）與主流的正妹美標準處於不相容的敵對狀態之中，因此對許多女性而言，「成為母親」與「美貌追求」是一個痛苦的矛盾。 This paper explores the ramifications that the ideal of beauty has on the experience of becoming a mother among educated urban women. For many women in Taiwan, beauty significantly contributes to a successful marriage, and this quest for beauty influences their whole lives. Undeniably, Taiwan has a modern economy, but marriage and starting a family is still valued, even for highly educated professional women. I analyze women's preoccupation with beauty from a critical perspective on neoliberal ideology. I will argue that beauty can be understood as contributing to women's human capital and the preoccupation with beauty in terms of aesthetic entrepreneurship. From this theoretical perspective, I show that Motherhood's consequences for women's bodies and the lack of resources to invest in one's beauty, in term of money and time, are incompatible with Taiwanese beauty norms. Hence the painful paradox for many women in a society in which they are expected both to have children and to make themselves beautiful.