The Menace of Female Beauty
Some food for thought:
1. "Female power is beauty" so much so that "a woman is rewarded for how she appears and not for what she desires or what she produces".
2. "Being thin sends a visual message to the world... that a woman works hard at being attractive, and is therefore good at her traditional job of being a desirable sexual object, romantic partner and consumer. By being lean, she also conveys the idea that she's disciplined, efficient and in control of herself."
I read these statements in the Women & Desire book. It really made me think a lot. Abt female appearances. Concidentally, L was telling me that he read in a book that says that males are need to be attracted by a female's appearance before he will attempt to get to know her better and that males cannot be persuaded to like a girl if he is not attracted by her looks.
Are females who are physically unattractive forever cursed to be unloved then?
Why is it that even in our supposedly educated & reasonable society, females are still judged by their looks & not by their true capabilities?
Why do modern women (including myself) constantly desire to be thinner?
What do i, as a woman, truly desire then?
All opinions & comments are very welcomed.....
1. "Female power is beauty" so much so that "a woman is rewarded for how she appears and not for what she desires or what she produces".
2. "Being thin sends a visual message to the world... that a woman works hard at being attractive, and is therefore good at her traditional job of being a desirable sexual object, romantic partner and consumer. By being lean, she also conveys the idea that she's disciplined, efficient and in control of herself."
I read these statements in the Women & Desire book. It really made me think a lot. Abt female appearances. Concidentally, L was telling me that he read in a book that says that males are need to be attracted by a female's appearance before he will attempt to get to know her better and that males cannot be persuaded to like a girl if he is not attracted by her looks.
Are females who are physically unattractive forever cursed to be unloved then?
Why is it that even in our supposedly educated & reasonable society, females are still judged by their looks & not by their true capabilities?
Why do modern women (including myself) constantly desire to be thinner?
What do i, as a woman, truly desire then?
All opinions & comments are very welcomed.....
posted by Magnesium at 8:16 pm
7 Comments:
Maybe it's in their genes??
Read an article in "女友" magazine, written by this DJ called 安娜. It's abt 高跟鞋.
Remember the recent charity show on Ren ci? One of the items was by some male artistes having to wear heels and do some stunts? When interviewed, one of the artistes said that it's so 辛苦, dun understand why women like to wear heels.
Cant remember the exact words by her... but she was saying sth to this extent:
"女为悦己者容. 男人忘了女人是为谁穿高跟鞋."
To a certain extent, i do agree with that statement. But i want to add on too. Women dun only fress up to gain the attention of guys (although i do admit, maybe to a large extent we do), but we oso dress up to gain the admiration of fellow females & to boost our self-esteem.
But it comes back to the same thing. We are doing what society desires of females, not what we ourselves feel most comfortable in, not what we ourselves desire.
What do you feel most comfortable in then? Ha... I guess this question is very hard for us to answer too. It's all part of nature. We evolve. We adapt. And that's how we survive. =)
Yes. L was also telling me there's only 1 solution. Go with the flow.
My reply to that was, i think the purpose of this book is not to suggest a solution, rather, it's to make us aware of the plight that women (from ancient times to modern times) are in. So we can make a choice.
1. Take the more convenient way. Do what we are expected to do. Gain the desire of others and as a result risk being unhappy ourselves.
2. Take the unconventional way. Be v sure of what we desire & follow our own desires. Satisfy ourselves but risk being ostracized n condemmed by society.
Haiz... So there is more than 1 solution.... but how many of us will dare to take the 2nd option? Do i myself have the courage? still thinking abt it.... but at least i'm becoming more aware of my motives whenever i do anything now.
Ha... girl... dun feel so sad. I dun do everything for pple. Sometimes we do things for ourselves. Nothing wrong with making ourselves pretty and feeling good abt ourselves... as long as we dun overdo it ba.
i'm not sad. Just that i find the book very thought provoking. so thinking abt it quite a lot.
Oh... n to clarify, i didn't that it's wrong to make ourselves look good. i'm just pondering on our motives for making ourselves look good. N i think that it's impt to achieve a balance. Don't sacrifice our own desires to be an object of other people's desires...
finally, i think my brains are in enough of an order for me to think and post up my thoughts.
1.i don't really think that is true. a lot of women who does have real power are not really pretty, or much less, beautiful, are they? political figures are a case in point. CEOs are another. of course, we have to define what power means. if by power, you mean power over the opposite sex, or in the media, that is a different story. that kind of proves the point doesn't it? in fact, you don't really need beauty to really have power.
2.i am not too sure about that. slim females do have an easier time than fat females. they don't seem to need to prove themselves that much.
my point of view is that the appearance of a female is important. you are often judged by how you look. but not always. for me, i don't really care. i tend to associate with people who DON'T judge me by how i look.
hence, i don't think that females who are physically unattractive are cursed to be unloved.
i think it will always be the case that people judge others by how they look, not how they truly are. but at the same time, there will always be people who don't, though few that might be.
i desire to be thinner too. i desire to look good too. but i still like myself the way i am. if i can get thinner, i will be happy. but if i don't, i am still happy. it is more a bonus than a goal.
hope i sound coherent. you can attack whatever weak points you see in my argument.
zhen
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