IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 2, No. 2, March 2019, pp. 141-157 International Journal of Humanity Studies http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/IJHS Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 141 THE MYTH OF FEMALE BEAUTY: STUDY OF REPRESENTATION TOWARD POST-NEW ORDER NOVELS WRITTEN BY MALES Lelu Dina Apristia Universitas Gadjah Mada lelu.dina.a@mail.ugm.ac.id DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/ijhs.2019.020204 Received 2 February 2019; revised 12 February 2019; accepted 18 February 2019 Abstract Males representing female beauty without experiencing to be real females in post- New Order era become the background of this study. This study is aimed: (1) to identify female beauty in post-New Order era represented by male writers, (2) to identify factors forming the representation. To achieve the aims, this study is done by applying Stuart Hall’s representation theory which is not only about meaning produced through language and knowledge produced through discourse, but also about revealing patriarchal structure containing in discourse. After applying Stuart Hall’s representation theory, it is found that female beauty in post -New Order era is not the same as the one in New Order era. Male writers represent that beautiful females in post-New Order are the ones whose body attracting other people and who struggle for freedom. The representation is formed by male writers in relation with males in post-New Order era and in discursive formation in post-New Order siding with males to keep masculine domination. Keywords: representation, female beauty, freedom, post-New Order, male writers, masculine domination Introduction Literary work is produced in society. That is based on the explanation of Bourdieu (1995: 229), “The producer of the value of work of art is not the artist but the field of production as a universe of belief which produces the value of the work of art.” Therefore, literary work as part of art contains values that reflect society. Literary work containing the reflection of society is bound of space and time as stated by Hall (1990: 222), “We all write and speak from a particular place and time, from a history and a culture which is specific. What we say is always ‘in context’, positioned.” Writers always work in context. It means that the change of space and time influences writers when they produce literary work. One of the topics in society reflected by writers in their works is beauty. Anthony (2008: 90) states, “The cult of beauty [...] is a feminine cult.”