Millions of women across the globe these days are seeking scientific intervention to fight aging; be it botox injections to drastic surgical procedures. We live in a vain and ostentatious world where beauty is not considered skin deep. The societal pressure to ‘look good,’ is spreading like plague. Several women I have spoken with blatantly told me ‘how you look determines what you get.’ Mind you, their philosophy is applicable to their day-to-day activities. According to them, right from the sommelier at a swanky French restaurant to the local grocer, treats them differently depending on how they look.
What I am struggling to discover is who defines the concept of ‘looking good’. Isn’t it an arbitrary term that can be construed differently? If you want to ‘look good’ to ‘feel good’ about your own self, then it’s a different thing; however, I think the problem is deeper rooted than that. I believe most women are putting themselves under the knife or injecting themselves with age-defying chemicals, to gain acceptance of their peers or men in their lives. To me, that sounds like an egregious blunder.
Honestly, what happened to aging with grace? Aren’t those wrinkles a reflection of your rich and fulfilled life? Is this flagrant violation of women’s rights, a sign of opulence, or gender apartheid?
Copyright © 03.02.2007
"Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm" - Oscar Wilde
Friday, March 2, 2007
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12 comments:
Nah...you can't do this to us.The whole concept of "bird watching" is defied if you incite such feelings in the women's community :)) On the other hand, if I look at this topic differently, I think you are right, because bird watching becomes more realistic too...one is easily able to narrow down the "target market" and position oneself accordingly:))Thus your stuff is a win-win for both the sexes.Kudos!
You end with bringing up women's rights and gender apartheid... but my question is, how is it any of that? Aren't the women doing it themselves?
Or do you believe the men are 'forcing' the women into being so. If so, what makes the women 'give in' to men?
I have heard so many of the feminine sex moan and groan about how men don't really 'take care of themselves'. 'Men just let themselves go to waste', is what the women say; 'They develop beer bellies, are unkempt, and just generally loathsome'. I haven't seen many men change that around just because of the women.
So what is it with the women? What if all the women decided that they will do just as they please. Let the wrinkles appear and the hair turn grey. No more spending time (lots and lots of it, some women proudly(?) proclaim) with the mascara, the eyeshadow, the foundation, the blush, the gloss.... and on and on the list goes..... What would the men do? Nothing! I say. Nothing!!! What CAN they do??
Here is what I believe - I believe that women do this to themselves. And that they LIKE doing this! They LOVE the attention it gets them!! (you can't blame a man for eyeing a woman all dolled up). And they are EUPHORIC when they believe they are 'looking better' than - get this - other women!!!
It is not a case of women's rights or gender apartheid, my dear... I truly believe it is the women's CHOICE!!!!
welsh - Ha! Ha! Ha! That is some opinion!!!
I feel sorry for you man. (The tone of your post tells me you are a man.) I suppose you are one of those beer-belly, unkempt, wasted types. Tell me truthfully, how many women give you a second look? In God's honest truth, wouldn't you rather be suave and handsome? I think you are just too lazy to try and look good.
Don't say then men don't try and look good baby. There are enough of you who try goddamn hard. There are even some who put women to shame!
Whatever anyone may say, it is a women's world baby! The weaker sex is actually the stronger one.
My two cents - while I agree with your " beauty 'lies' " part, I don't think it is limited to women alone. Men are as much a part of this.
It is very true but you are right how women are treated is very closely related to how they look & nothing wrong in looking good if that makes you feel good. Like they say today's 60 is last generation's 40. I agree that Botox & fillers are expensive alternatives but if you think money spent is worth it then go for it.....beauty is never skin deep it is on the surface...who you are is skin deep...it is poetic way of saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder...who is beholding it ask any man & you will find out....your first impression is made when you are first looked at....I say take advantage of being a woman & please look good that's what will take you far & then your brain...this is still a man's world baby.
women have to work hard to look good for men. it is horrible. Welsh if women don't take care of themselves, men dump them. dolling up is to keep relationship intact.
This concept of "looking good" and the criteria for looking good (thinner, younger etc.) is further propagated by TV, Hollywood and the media!
This concept of "looking good" and the criteria for looking good (thinner, younger etc.) is further propagated by TV, Hollywood and the media!
Men getting age-related beauty treatments (face lifts, botox, etc.) are rising faster than women, although they tend to get different kinds of treatments, of course.
Blaming it on the media is not enough, as the media tends to reflect rather than drive societal norms. That reflection can have an amplification effect, of course, as marketers push their new products to us and make it easier (and cheaper) to get treatments.
I am a man and I agree with twocents.
The whole thing with Women trying to look better is NOT to show men how good they look. They are competing with themselves. They dont give a rats a$$ what a Man thinks. If you look at women on streets, they look at other women. Comparing themselves, judging other women. Well men and women have atleast one thing in common, both species look at other women :)
Ha ha, couldn't agree more with Jaydeep! I don believe that sometime women are their own worst critics and enemies.
I must ask a question though - how are the 'beauty rituals' of today's urban tribes different from those of the past, or of certain communities who even today subject their bodies to mutilation - all as marks of conformity to their own concept of beauty?
From "Mirror!Mirror !on the Wall" days,women want to look good for themselves and more so to compete with other women for the sake of sdadistic pleasures.Linking it with impressing the male sect is only incidental.
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