Nails are a significant medium in society. They display a person’s beliefs and illuminate their social status. In addition, they rigidly define gender differences.
Nails publicly display a persons belief or their personality. For example, during Lindsey Lohan's trial she was photographed with a message defined on her nail entitled, "Fuck U". This only furthered investigators accusations that she was not remorseful of her actions. Pictures of her nails swarmed website blogs, newspapers, and magazines, and caused much controversy. This is a sole example of where nails communicate a persons beliefs. Katy Perry is often seen wearing nails that state PETA or support other animal rights organizations. Kim Kardashian painted "Reggie Bush" on her nails during his debut at the Super Bowl. These examples demonstrate individuals publicly displaying their personal beliefs, personality, or relationship through the painting on their nail polish.
Nails define gender differences in society. If a female has dirty nails, she is categorized as being less feminine than a woman who does have clean nails. Men rarely get manicures because they are seen as "too feminine". However, how are these gender barriers erected through the upkeep of ten measly fingernails?
Nails elucidate an individual’s social status. One can be perceived as wealthy if they have perfectly french-manicured nails. On the contrary, one could be defined as poor through dirty nails. They display the amount of wealth one has to allocate to personal grooming. If one is well groomed, one can afford manicures, which yields the individual to be wealthy. In Croteau & Hoynes, Stuart Hall speaks to the "encoding-decoding" model. Although he describes the model in terms of a marketer to consumer, I believe this model can be used through consumer to consumer. Individuals are encoding a message (nail polish) and the other consumer can decode that message (social status, gender, personal beliefs) as they choose. This model explains the thought process behind these mediums of
"fingernail communication".
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| Lindsey Lohan |
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| Kim Kardashian |
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| Katy Perry |
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| Joe Biden |
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| French Manicure |
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| Detailed Manicure |
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| Lady Gaga |
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| Soda! |
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| Dirty Nails |
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| Sexy Nails |
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| Sleek Nails |
