Theres no denying it — everyone wants to be beautiful. A simple flip through any magazine confirms this as beauty ads for new hair products, cosmetics, and fashion fill every other page. However, beauty is not free, as it comes with a hefty price. Beauty causes people to suffer, so much so, that in the most extreme cases, the pursuit of beauty can be considered torture. Through looking at the evolution of beauty as well as a few authors opinions of the subject matter, it will become clear just how much of a burden beauty really is.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is a common saying that holds true in all senses. Beauty has evolved dramatically, and what was once considered beautiful is now passé. According to A Wound in the Face by Angela Carter, the application of makeup has evolved from a layer almost an inch thick, to none at all, and even to small floral designs. Carter also comments that beauty is forever changing in an almost cyclic pattern: like fashion and clothes, fashion and faces have been stuck in pastiche for the past four or five years. This bankruptcy is disguised by ever more ingenious pastiche of the thirtys, the fortys, the fiftys, the Middle East, Xanadu, and Wessex knows smocks. However, even though beauty has changed dramatically, one thing remain consistent — the fact that beauty is a huge burden.
According to Susan Brownmillers Femininity, beauty causes women to become inferior to men. This is because societys expectations require that a beautiful woman focus solely on love: A requirement of femininity is that a woman devote her life to love—to mother love, to romantic love, to religious love, to amorphous, undifferentiated caring. The fact that women must devote their lives to love puts them at a severe disadvantage to men when it comes to achieving something important in the world. It is a cold fact that the number of men in the engineering and math fields simply trump the number of women. There is no wonder why this is true however, as how can a woman focus on engineering and mathematics when in order to be accepted in society she must constantly think of love? In a society where gender equality is valued, then how too can a setback like beauty be such a priority?
The Essay on Beauty Love Flaw Beautiful
When I stop and think about the word beauty, everything else along with the idea of beauty comes into mind. Beauty is like the scene where god kisses everything of his creation, including the most disastrous that is human. Like the perfect even flow of the ocean, beauty is defined by either side of itself. Daffodils, love, and cupids would be meaningless if the other side, poison ivy, hate and ...
There was a time when beauty was considered more of a virtue than a priority. According to A Womans Beauty: Put-Down or Power Source by Susan Sontag, the Ancient Greeks viewed beauty as more of something to be admired as opposed to a societal requirement. Back then, beauty was seen as something to be grateful for, and to put it quite simply, you were either born with it or not. Women now pursue beauty as if literally their life and checkbook — depended on it. Every day thousands of women spend millions of dollars and put their lives on the line in a menagerie of plastic surgeries that take away their fat, change the shape of their faces, and enhance their breasts all to attain the goal of beauty. Simply put, the way beauty is seen today is pitiful in comparison to how it was seen in ancient times. Not only was the Ancient Greek point of view much healthier for the women, but it was also much more beneficial to society as well, as women could then contribute something worthwhile to society.
Some people, however, argue that beauty can get people places. According to A Womans Beauty: put Down or Power Source?, by Susan Sontag, the fact that many women have become successful in life simply because of their beauty is discussed. Though this may be true, what is not apparent is how much these women have suffered to achieve their state of beauty. It is true that women may open doors, but it is even more true that beauty is torture.
The Essay on Women War Aristophanes Time
By: April Gibbs Lysistrata by Aristophanes I think the story of Lysistrata is both interesting and surprising. I did not expect a story that was written in 411 BC to have much of anything I could relate to our world today. Aristophanes deals with very real, every day issues in this story. Although he is actually poking fun at them by making the situations as absurd as possible, there are still ...
Ultimately, society is severely held back by beauty. It is extremely ironic that with the Womens Rights Movement and all the work of present Feminists that beauty is still as valued as it is today. Though what we perceive as beauty may change as time passes, the very existence of beauty as a setback will probably not. Some may think that our value of beauty is a trivial manner and that there are much more important things to worry about, such as wars, famine, and global warming. However, part of the reasons these problems exist is because of societys obsession with the inanity of beauty that distract us from what is really important. The sooner people come to their senses and leave their narrow-minded value of beauty behind, the faster mankind can progress and reach its true potential.
