A feminist advises to use every tool in your purse (or pocket) to get ahead.
Beautiful women really do have a difficult time in life, be they lesbians or straight women. I have had the pleasure of knowing some outrageously beautiful women in my life. By that I mean they have shared their personhood with me to the extent that I do feel the pain of being a beautiful human being. Let me explain before the laughing stops.
It’s the same old story really – the struggle to be appreciated for one’s intelligence and talents and not judged solely on outward appearances. Further, do you use those striking features and drop dead gorgeous physique when it works for you, like when you are skewering opposing counsel in court or trying to doctor a menacing letch? Though far from feminist in outlook, I would say, use it baby.
When the women’s movement swept the earth back in the 1970s, there was the philosophy that women shouldn’t play these sexual games in professional settings – this behavior was not acceptable and it was patently unfair to males. We shouldn’t have to manipulate the “third bat” just to hit a home run.
Some forty years later, I see it quite differently.
All those strictly “professional” encounters did not do much to train men in these settings. I have seen them fall just as hard for a wistful glance or slight touch on the arm today as eons ago. If anyone has failed, it is their parents who have failed to mold them into beings able to set aside base instinct and operate on a platonic plateau during business hours.
Or, possibly no one is to blame. It is just a man’s nature, just as it is a woman’s nature to invite men into the web of mystery and innuendo for a short visit; long enough for our bite to turn their innards into mush and then kick their incoherent, gelatinous mass back the curb. Sounds delightful to me. Score one for the majority.
As for me, I will take my nondescript and aging appearance any day.
While I may not have achieved great successes, I have evaded prying eyes and drooling drunks. I have managed to slip in and out of professional settings with some dignity and even, at times, I did so based on my skill and intellect and not breast size or an alluring presence. I don’t consider myself to be at any disadvantage in this contest.
A world so focused on outward appearances is really unfair to all of us, but shy of a massive shift in attitude; we remain bollixed up in the superficial. Beautiful women and gorgeous men will continue to use their power, but we should not forget that it is a short sale of sorts. It is a form of pre-judgment or prejudice and no form of prejudice enhances the human race.
Maybe my universal advice on this topic should be “use it, but don’t abuse it.” The world remains an unequal place for women. Be beautiful, but don’t forget to be bold and brazen and proud and persistent as well.