3. Today there is an enormous industry devoted to making products and providing services to make women attractive. What would Wollstonecraft say?
Wollstonecraft provides provoking commentary on female desire for attractiveness: she mentions and reflects on the notion at many points in her writing. For instance, she writes that many women tend to not notice, or care, about the conceit of female inferiority because of the praise, honor, and social power they receive because of their beauty. She points to this sector of women as only imbricating themselves in the harmful conceptions that plague the rest of them--to solve this, she says, women should be allowed to be examined in other lights, just as men are.
The current-day beauty industry, then, is a point of tension for Wollstonecraft. While women are certainly granted more agency in the ways they choose to perform and idealize themselves, the products and services that serve to enhance women's attractiveness might be a concern for her, in that they do solidify institutionalized realms of valorization where women's beauty is what is to be observed. Seeing the nature of the beauty industry today, she might be less critical of it as a whole, but would still want to provide alternative routes for us to value women, just as we do for men.
I think Aaron makes several good points. Given Wallstonecraft's issue with the societal focus on a woman's beauty as a marker of her value, she could take issue with an industry that has long been seen as predatory of insecurities caused social pressures to look feminine and beautiful with the help of cosmetics. She would also probably take issue with the "pink tax" women pay for more expensive "female" versions of the same beauty/hygiene products men use (shaving cream, razors, etc.)
ReplyDeleteHowever, more recently we have seen a shift in perspective concerning the beauty industry. Although for many it still has problematic roots in sexist expectations concerning women's appearances, in many ways the industry has been reclaimed as a tool for self expression. More women and LGBTQ people have appropriated the beauty industry and have become the faces of a more flexible industry toting a message of free and varied self expression and autonomy. Although very different, high profile individuals such as the first male Covergirl and Alicia Keys' commitment to going without traditional makeup provide examples of the type reclaiming of power over appearances and over the beauty industry. If Wallstonecraft saw this new front of the industry she would probably be less critical, if still focused on offering alternative means for women to express and claim their value.