Here, let me get my soapbox
I've fallen behind on my blogging and I'm going to have to backtrack later, but right now I have something I want to get down about misogyny and how it infiltrates society in a tiny but significant way a lot of people don't notice.
When you read a personality summary of a character, or a celebrity, what kind of positive traits get listed? Maybe... kind, smart, brave, strong, loyal, and so on? If it's a female, how often does "beautiful" come up? How many times is "beautiful" the first positive trait to come up? I've started paying attention to what words are used to describe females, be they fictional or real, and realized that their looks get top notice a lot while, comparatively, males get no physical comments either way.
No really, how many times do you hear a commercial for a new video game where a narrator comments on how the male protagonist is a brave and strong "beauty"? Never? Then why was that all I heard about Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning? Yeah, I know the spiel about how we want the people on TV to be pretty so we can project ourselves onto them. The problem isn't just that actors and animated characters are beautiful, but that "beautiful" has somehow been dubbed a personality trait. If "beauty" is a positive trait on the same level as kindness (antonym cruelty) and bravery (ditto cowardice), then apparently "ugly" women aren't good characters. Men can sometimes get away with ugliness and still be a likable character, but if a woman isn't good-looking, she's either a villain or her lack of attraction is pointed out frequently (e.g., Ugly Betty) and it's still a personality trait.
I understand how trivial this may sound to some people, but words have more power than we often give them credit for. The phrasing stems from a patriarchy-centered mentality that spreads through attitudes like the passing comment on a girl's looks where it doesn't belong. It doesn't matter if she's pretty. She's kind and brave and strong, no matter what her body looks like.
Why do we keep telling our children, our girls and our boys, that "Looks don't matter," then never fail to bring up "beautiful" in a list of a woman's positive traits? Why are we shocked when these children grow up to have body image issues? Good people are pretty. Good people are beautiful and brave and strong and kind, and beautiful comes first.
Next time you need to describe a woman, watch your language. Unless you'd be just as likely to mention how good-looking a man is, leave your interpretation of her beauty out of it. For that matter, those of you in the vocal minority, stop bringing up a man's looks too.
When you read a personality summary of a character, or a celebrity, what kind of positive traits get listed? Maybe... kind, smart, brave, strong, loyal, and so on? If it's a female, how often does "beautiful" come up? How many times is "beautiful" the first positive trait to come up? I've started paying attention to what words are used to describe females, be they fictional or real, and realized that their looks get top notice a lot while, comparatively, males get no physical comments either way.
No really, how many times do you hear a commercial for a new video game where a narrator comments on how the male protagonist is a brave and strong "beauty"? Never? Then why was that all I heard about Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning? Yeah, I know the spiel about how we want the people on TV to be pretty so we can project ourselves onto them. The problem isn't just that actors and animated characters are beautiful, but that "beautiful" has somehow been dubbed a personality trait. If "beauty" is a positive trait on the same level as kindness (antonym cruelty) and bravery (ditto cowardice), then apparently "ugly" women aren't good characters. Men can sometimes get away with ugliness and still be a likable character, but if a woman isn't good-looking, she's either a villain or her lack of attraction is pointed out frequently (e.g., Ugly Betty) and it's still a personality trait.
I understand how trivial this may sound to some people, but words have more power than we often give them credit for. The phrasing stems from a patriarchy-centered mentality that spreads through attitudes like the passing comment on a girl's looks where it doesn't belong. It doesn't matter if she's pretty. She's kind and brave and strong, no matter what her body looks like.
Why do we keep telling our children, our girls and our boys, that "Looks don't matter," then never fail to bring up "beautiful" in a list of a woman's positive traits? Why are we shocked when these children grow up to have body image issues? Good people are pretty. Good people are beautiful and brave and strong and kind, and beautiful comes first.
Next time you need to describe a woman, watch your language. Unless you'd be just as likely to mention how good-looking a man is, leave your interpretation of her beauty out of it. For that matter, those of you in the vocal minority, stop bringing up a man's looks too.