my response (see previous blog)
Hi Nicole,
Yep, your phone conversation was a spark.
>We think Ms. USA has accomplished less than say a >similarly aged woman who has a PhD. Even though I can >make the argument that Ms. USA has probably spent as
>much time and effort into looking like she does as the doctor has in studying and honing her skills…
It’s because we are valuing other things over time and energy, such as intelligence and ethics and intellectually vigourous work. I just find it
difficult for someone to take credit for beauty, when it was the luck of the draw. I suppose people are inherently born with intelligence as well, but generally it seems to take the whole force of a person(ality)to make that intelligence into something. I can appreciate that a model who makes a career out of being beautiful has more going for her than simple
beauty – business acumen, ability to pose for a camera, networking skills, persistence – but for a woman (whose career isn’t to be beautiful) to wrap up her whole self-esteem and sense of accomplishment in something that is ultimately external to her and who she is seems bad. It ultimately doesn’t have anything to do with her.
What’s not fair is not beauty versus brains in women but that fact that men are not judged for their beauty in the same way. Why is it that a woman’s best asset is often seen as her body/beauty but men’s best assets are
almost never seen as their body/beauty? Of course we all privately like the look of a cute guy, but our world in no way revolves around the way men look. It certainly revolves around the way women look. Looked at in this way, a woman who promotes her beauty above other assets is playing into a patriarchal paradigm of female power being narrowed to encompass only one
thing (beauty) that is hard for most women to achieve and largely assessed by men. And then it is used against them when they achieve other sorts of
power. You should see how the young, attractive female Parliamentarians are treated here. They are trivialised by people/politicians/media going on about their hair colour or shoe choice or weight. Beware the woman who is beautiful and intelligent. Such a threat!
>And maybe they are insecure, but maybe they’ve earned >it just as honestly as we’ve earned our insecurities >about our looks… And maybe putting on that bikini is >their way of sticking it to all those smart kids.
That’s a good point, but I’m sure those girls had other things to stick it to us with besides beauty if they had been treated well, encouraged and given the opportunity to discover their talent. Surely everyone has some sort of intelligence or talent that can be nurtured (I don’t consider beauty an intelligence or talent).
I don’t think anyone is saying there’s anything wrong with being sexy, only that women need to be able to exercise choice in when/how/where/for whom to be sexy. And for women to acknowledge their place in the broader social context and their effects on other women. That takes intelligence.
Rachel
The discussion keeps going in further emails but I won’t post them here unless anyone is interested.
