Sarah Wills, The Beauty Myth and Hair Matters Response

Beauty may only seem skin deep, but it has ability to over power women in Society. Both The Beauty Myth and Hair Matters stress importance of women’s appearances.

The article The Beauty Myth discusses the change of women’s role in society overtime. It is obvious that modern day women have significantly more power than woman from the past century. However, the need to be beautiful restrains women from being completely liberated. In the Early 20^th century, women had significantly less power than men than they do now. Despite the newly achieved freedoms, women are still inferior when it comes to appearances. The influence of beauty on women is paralyzing. As Wolf points out, eating disorders and cosmetic surgery are on the rise. Pornography has also become more mainstreamed. This is all due to the fact that women need to be beautiful. In this society, beauty is portrayed as youthful, gaunt women. Huge industries have resulted from the need for women to be beautiful. Wolf even states that we might be “worse off than our unliberated grandmothers”. 

Why does beauty have so much power over women nowadays? Wolf describes beauty as “woman must want to embody it and men must want to possess women who embody it”.  This description makes beauty sound like a tangible object that can be obtained by all. People have been socialized to think that beauty is a necessity to be successful and happy. Wolf even describes women as being trapped in their bodies.  I feel that women pressure themselves to feel beautiful all the time because their bodies are so sexualized by men. When women are getting ready to go out, they know that men will look at them and make mental judgments. This subliminal notion causes women to be constantly self-aware and always conscious of their appearance.

The reading Hair Matters describes the issues of the black culture when it comes to hair. The major question from the reading is: natural? Or not natural? This hair issue seems to create a divide among the black culture. Ingrid Banks interviews people about their stance on black women’s hair. One interviewee states that “nappy hair is a badge of shame”. This means that black women’s hair, in its natural state, is disempowering. Some of the interviewees believe that black people have a choice when it comes to wearing their hair. However, there are social ramifications that have huge impacts when it comes to these decisions. Semple describes these ramifications as “sexual…economic, cultural…”. Therefore, black women can make decisions about their hair, but they have to except the way the society will respond to the decision. I feel that society does put ridiculous emphasis on hair. Personally, I have always kept my hair long and refuse to cut it. There is something about long flowing hair that feels good for a girl. Since black women don’t natural have this type of hair, they are pressured to change it to be more feminine. I agree that women have the choice about whether they want to wear their hair natural or not. However, the consequences of these decisions definitely impact their status and general public opinions. Just as Banks describes it, women with short nappy hair are not seen as feminine as women with long flowing hair.

Both readings relay the importance of women’s appearances. Beauty affects women in ways that hinder their ability to be successful in life. It is an obstacle that over powers some women. As Banks states, I feel that the need to be beautiful is a fairly recent trend that can be debilitating for some women.