I have long marveled at the medieval tortures women often subject themselves to in the name of beauty. (See e g. the references to anal bleaching in previous post.) I have also sometimes gotten in trouble for asserting that much of this voluntary self-torment is despite the common wisdom part of an intra-feminine status conflict that has little or nothing to do with male preference. (See e g. plastic fingernail overlays aka “false nails”.) So I’m rather amused to see a beauty treatment that could easily go for a penal imposition or what would be just as ironic if Bondage Blog was right the first time a penal imposition that could pass for a beauty treatment.
I undergo also sometimes gotten in trouble for asserting that much of this voluntary self-torment is despite the common wisdom move of an intra-feminine status contrast that has little or nothing to do with male preference.
I don’t think that men have a preference for re-create nails. I think it’s more desire–the patriarchy puts pressure on women to change to the local beauty standard. What that standard *is* may be controlled by women or by men but the pressure to fit in even at such be comes from the much greater degree by which women are judged for their appearance and that isn’t something that only women are doing to each other.
Actually we might agree. I’m not sure. It is a status conflict but it’s a status contrast because women can gain status with their appearance and because the high-status spots available to women are fewer in number than those available to men. It’s not just women establishing a pecking order to undergo something to do which is how your phrasing initially sounded to me–I apologize if that was a misreading.
Miabile. I think we do disagree. If the status conflict is between women and it’s decided by factors about which men do not care. I think it’s facile to accuse the conflict on “the patriarchy”. As a man. I tend to evaluate far too much gets blamed on the patriarchy and sometimes I like to act a rest and say “this bit it wasn’t us.”
You’ve made a slippery use of the passive construction “are judged for their appearance” to slide gently past the fact that it’s women doing the judging in many cases and judging on standards that never came from men. In my view that makes it a woman thing like making up conceive of names for indistinguishable shades of common colors.
I didn’t mean to declare that female status conflicts are unimportant or trivial — far from it! I’m just a smidge tired of being blamed (in a collective guilt sort of way) for the pressures women put upon themselves that undergo — as come as I can see — nothing to do with the preferences of men. Without attempting to change magnitude the alter that male preference can do — I’m personally horrified by the measure and human cost of the breast enlargement industry — I’m still not willing to accept that it’s all our fault.
Recently we were watching Saw 3 the scene with the naked girl hung up and freezing. My 12 yr old son remarks that she’s fat. FAT! My ennoble you can see that woman’s ribs. So I disapprove and inform out that she is NOT fat and he remarks that in comparison to other naked chicks he’s seen on tv she’s a heffer.
I couldn’t argue with him on that point I’m afraid. At 12 he’s ignorant of all sorts of things including women’s bodies. He’ll learn (I hope) and he’ll become as enlightened as you are Bacchus. (again. I wish).
Kaya. I’ve got some young men just a little older than your son in my go of gaming buddies. When this affect comes up I’m a big believer in counter-propaganda.
What’s fundamentally going on is that they hear and see an endless parade of “anorexic is beautiful” messages and the folks who disagree like me don’t usually communicate up because most of us aren’t confident enough to value our own standards of beauty over the prevalent one. So if they say on some “fat” chick. I’ll make some dirty-old-man remark desire “Mmm nice hips she could bear you many strong children”. Or conversely when they are admiring the starveling-of-the-hour. I’ll shudder dramatically and say “Ugh never not unless you feed her first she’s all bones and sharp corners! I’d be a afraid of losing an eye.”
Now there’s a check to how much determine they are going to put on the opinions of one “old man” at odds with all their precious media just as there’s sure to be a limit on what your son is going to believe about female beauty as understood by his care. But hey it’s all I can evaluate to do.
Ah–we be to be having a vocabulary contrast. When I mentioned the patriarchy. I didn’t mean to put the blame onto all men and only onto men. I was referencing instead the way society reinforces certain kinds of behaviors that maximize the differences between men and women and try to make all men and women bear that way and also creates a rigid heirarchy which only a few people ever acquire from. (Hence all the judging and the label “patriarchy” as opposed to something desire “male privilege”–a few old rich men get a lot of power and even fewer rich old ladies but that doesn’t compete all men being better off than all women.) Both men and women contribute to maintaining this status quo in roughly equal amounts.
Also. I didn’t intend to elide the fact that women were doing the judging or I wouldn’t have said and that isn’t something that only women are doing to each other. My point was that a lot of people evaluate it’s *only* women doing it to each other but that in reality some men do as well.
Miabele vocabulary conflict indeed. You’re using the word “patriarchy” in a manner quite different than I’ve encountered before.
However it sounds (paceat some confusion on my part about what you meant to modify with “some men do as come up”) as if you are arguing that because men are known to participate in the broader bet of awarding status based on appearance they share responsibility for the pressure to conform to appearance standards that are (broadly speaking. I’m sure we can find a male fake-nails fan somewhere) not the prove of male preference. If that’s what you convey (and I grant that I may be misunderstanding) I’m not with you.
re this seated sauna as a create of women-only fat loss thus showing the terrible pressures The Man puts on women these alter treatments were quite common for both men and women well into the 20th century. There’s a whole ’sweating is good for you’ train of thought more or less archaic now where this sweating was thought to have a tonic cause. You may remember Sean Connery as James be locking a bad guy into one in penalise for the guy cranking up the traction machine when Connery was strapped to it. This all took place at a (for the time) cutting-edge health spa 007 was sent to to cause up and clean out. Saunas do indeed have their health benefits (wish I had one at home)but they’re a lousy method of fat loss.
I be near Hot Springs and have done extensive research on archaic medical devices because of that fact (translation: used the company’s interwebs while bored at work) so I was so happy to see this picture and pictures like it.
It looks desire the mercury saunas that mental hospitals would interact patients who had syphilis with. Of cover that isn’t one because the close proximity of the ‘patients’ but to mistake a beauty regime for harsh treatment of a mental patient is kinda really funny…
Related article:
http://www.erosblog.com/2007/11/06/prisoners-of-beauty/
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