The titular quote comes from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. While reading this awesome text, I kept (keep) coming across these wonderful quotes that I find perfectly applicable to today. I am almost half-way through, and what has really struck me about what I've read so far is the focus on what I've always considered a contemporary problem: the elevation of female beauty above all else.
She states the issue with a fitting metaphor: "The conduct and manners of women, in fact, evidently prove, that their minds are not in a healthy state; for, like the flowers that are planted in too rich a soil, strength and usefulness are sacrificed to beauty; and the flaunting leaves, after having pleased a fastidious eye, fade, disregarded on the stalk, long before the season when they ought to have arrived at maturity." Wollstonecraft is arguing that the emphasis placed on feminine beauty and civility and delicacy so heavily fostered during her time are detrimental to the mental growth of women. Hear, hear!
If a person is taught from an early age that the most direct path to happiness is being thin and pretty, what use can there be for education and intellect? Later Wollstonecraft writes: "Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man; and should they be beautiful, every thing else is needless, for, at least, twenty years of their lives." This may have been the quote that brought the argument home for me.
Contemporary society values physical beauty above all else. Actresses, musicians, models, and so on are all expected to fit a certain standard of beauty, and if they meet this standard, their minds are just plain unnecessary. If you need proof of this just think about Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, etc. We may not expect the same sort of civility and propriety (actually we seem to like just the opposite) but we do expect or adore physical beauty in such a way that renders intellect secondary.
Wollstonecraft also discusses the little intrigues and childish posturing of women in a way which I found enlightened: "for this exertion of cunning is only an instinct of nature to enable them to obtain indirectly a little of that power of which they are unjustly denied a share; for, if women are not permitted to enjoy legitimate rights, they will render both men and themselves vicious, to obtain illicit privileges." In my opinion, this is a serious and important distinction to make in regards to modern times. Women have many more options than beauty to gain power. It may still be the easiest or fastest way to gain power.
This sort of power is quite temporary though. As Wollstonecraft says, "the woman who has only been taught to please, will soon find that her charms are oblique sun-beams, and that they cannot have much effect on her husband's heart when they are seen every day, when the summer is past and gone. Will she then have sufficient native energy to look into herself for comfort, and cultivate her dormant faculties? or, is it not more rational to expect that she will try to please other men; and, in the emotions raised by the expectation of new conquests, endeavor to forget the mortification her love or pride has received? When the husband ceases to be a lover - and the time will inevitably come, her desire of pleasing will then grow languid, or become a spring of bitterness; and love, perhaps, the most evanescent of all passions, gives place to jealousy or vanity."
Relationships, whether marriage or dating, founded on physical attraction seem to dissipate rather quickly. Men - or women - who 'fall in love' with a person because of physical beauty find out sooner or later that either beauty fades or the honeymoon phase ends. A true relationship requires a meeting of the minds as much as a meeting of the bodies, and when men marry "alluring mistresses rather than rational wives" problems are sure to arise.
I find it depressing that this concept was so well articulated so very long ago and that little has changed. The most dramatic change, in my mind, that has occurred has been negative. Instead of women 'becoming more like men' (i.e. focusing on intellect rather than beauty), it appears that men have 'become more like women.' Whereas Wollstonecraft was condemning the treatment and subsequent behavior of women, I feel sure that today she would see drastic similarities in her argument with one which could be made about men. While men are certainly not held to the same standards of beauty as woman, the physical appearance of men seems more important now than ever.
Maybe someday the physical appearance of both genders (all genders) can take a back seat to intellect. I feel sure the world would be a better place if more time was spent reading and less time primping. But I could be biased...
What I've focused on in this post is just a small, small portion of the ideas presented in Wollstonecraft's book, and hopefully I will make a few more posts about the issues which intrigue me the most before finally reviewing the book itself.
I am reading this as part of the Year of Feminist Classics, and if you haven't joined up yet, I highly recommend heading over and doing so!
I agree that society places more value on physical beauty rather than on intellect, and it frustrates me very much. What kind of message does this send to the children we are raising? Right now I am reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, and some of the issues that you talk about here are also addressed in that book. Specifically the fleetingness of youth and beauty and it's power and impact on those around it. The thoughts you've shared on this are very interesting, so thank you!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Trisha! I didn't realize this was a theme in Wollstonecraft's book, especially not one covered so heavily. I don't have much to add except that I agree with everything you said, and I love the last comic on the bottom :)
ReplyDeleteI've never read this one and didn't manage to get to it for the Year of Feminist Classics, unfortunately. I've enjoyed reading everyone's reactions, though, because each person seems to highlight a different aspect of the book. Amazing that so much of Wollstonecraft's points are still applicable today.
ReplyDeleteI agree that physical beauty is a major societal factor and while it's for both men and women, women definitely bear the brunt of it. I think (hope) things are getting better than in Wollstonecraft's age but there are times it doesn't feel that way. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThis is incredibly articulate, thought-provoking post. I agree. it's sad that this was articulated so well so long ago yet little has changed.
ReplyDeleteYes! I love what you wrote. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteexcellent post. I haven't read Wollstonecraft but may have to after reading this post. It is distressing so little has changed since she wrote these things. As the mother of a teen daughter AND a son, I"m not happy that instead of backing away from basing a woman's worth on her looks, we've (as a society) decided that to equalize things, we would jut put more emphasis on ridiculous standards for how men should look. So. Frustrating.
ReplyDeleteI am a little shy of half through with the book and marked many of the same passages that you brought up in this post. It boggles me that we seem to go through similar grievances as we did centuries ago, only manifested differently.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of amazing how contemporary some of her points still are, isn't it? An excellent post, Trisha.
ReplyDeleteOne aspect of it tha tI find very interesting is that we (and she) tend to think of physically attractive is being somewhat synonymous with being, to be blunt stupid (take, for example, the comics you used to illustrate your post). To an extent, this is because when we say 'physical beauty', we really mean, the sort of unnatural, produced beauty that requires endless primping and training to be beautiful - beauty that becomes the focus of one's life. This is what she was talking about, anyways. I think this is a shame, because it makes it difficult for us to notice and understand physical beauty for it's OWN sake - something beautiful should be a joy - instead it's a mark of suspicion.
ReplyDeleteHe won't be able to deal with it. He doesn't have a clue how to handle foreign policy. Saying that he'd pull out of Iraq at any cost just proves the point.
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