“For a society that tells women in order to be beautiful we have to be tanned, plucked, waxed, sucked, and primped, we sure do love making fun of gals who live up to that ideal! While the male model of rugged manly roughness is rarely mocked (hell, we put him on Brawny paper towels!), women who meet the feminine ideal are most often made fun of, called stupid and shallow, and dismissed as vain. It seems there’s no winning for pretty girls, either! It’s something similar to the celeb-hate we love so much, but worse-because we do it to each other every day as well. Be honest-how often do we see a woman with a fake tan, or dyed hair, or obvious plastic surgery, and judge her-even just a little? Don’t feel too bad; we’re trained to do as much. We’re supposed to simultaneously want to be that woman-and want to destroy her. (And maybe hate ourselves for wanting to be her.) It’s all sorts of fucked up. But it drives the competitive spirit that keeps women buying more products, more surgeries, more everything. A lot of people are depending on our judging and hating each other!
~ Jessica Valenti,
He’s a Stud, She’s A Slut and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know. (via
crystalsavestheday)