Again, a very powerful and interesting take on things and I agree with much of it.
The history of beauty is a strange thing; I know of no time or place when a woman's wisdom and experience was considered preferable to feminine youth and ignorance; old women were to be pitied and derided unless they had the extremely rare priveleges of money and power. The optimum for a woman was to be young, un-used and exquisite; sometimes that exquisiteness took the form of white skin and golden hair, other times it took the form of plumpness and rosey cheeks. Alongside fecundity it was a woman's only personal commodity; both of these were expected to fade, and then she was supposed to... to what? disappear or hover in the background, nurture and endure and be silent, or take on that role so beloved in Carry On Films, the comedy old bag that nobody wants.
I honestly think our current culture is kinder. Of course, it would be better if we respected people for who they are. Beauty really is more than skin deep. But until peeps stop buying mags with synthetic boobs and fake smiles all over them, until we buy perfumes we like instead of those with Beckham and Kylie endorsements, we're not moving on. People know the dream is silly, but they want it anyway...I guess there's a mercy in more people being able to reach it.
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The history of beauty is a strange thing; I know of no time or place when a woman's wisdom and experience was considered preferable to feminine youth and ignorance; old women were to be pitied and derided unless they had the extremely rare priveleges of money and power. The optimum for a woman was to be young, un-used and exquisite; sometimes that exquisiteness took the form of white skin and golden hair, other times it took the form of plumpness and rosey cheeks. Alongside fecundity it was a woman's only personal commodity; both of these were expected to fade, and then she was supposed to... to what? disappear or hover in the background, nurture and endure and be silent, or take on that role so beloved in Carry On Films, the comedy old bag that nobody wants.
I honestly think our current culture is kinder. Of course, it would be better if we respected people for who they are. Beauty really is more than skin deep. But until peeps stop buying mags with synthetic boobs and fake smiles all over them, until we buy perfumes we like instead of those with Beckham and Kylie endorsements, we're not moving on. People know the dream is silly, but they want it anyway...I guess there's a mercy in more people being able to reach it.