U5: Can you think of other examples of women suffering because of the beauty value? Do you agree that women lose more than they gain from the beauty value? Why?
Can you think of other examples of women suffering because of the beauty value? Do you agree that women lose more than they gain from the beauty value? Why?
The feminine beauty value defines beauty as the most important asset for females, thus stimulating the painful refinement of women. In ancient China, a notorious feminine beauty standard was based on the shape and size of women’s feet. At that time, tiny feet, a symbol of beauty, showed respectable status. Naturally, foot size translated into some form of “currency” and a means to acquire upward mobility. [1] However, the ideal length for a “Golden Lotus”, or a perfectly bound foot was only 3 Chinese inches. Blindly bearing the beauty value in mind, generations of women were tortured since their childhood. A little girl would have her toes and arch forcefully crushed again and again for years, and the painstaking process might even deprive her of the ability to walk normally all her life.
For women, the beauty value causes their excessive attention on physical perfection. While some are fortunate enough to convert their beauty asset into fame, happiness or higher social status, the others are just haunted by their daydreams of turning beauty into fortune. This brings an endless pursuit of beauty, even when the beauty standards are clearly outrageous. So the feminine beauty value mainly harms women by insinuating them that beauty is a shortcut to success. Under such an influence, women are unconsciously subjugated, and their power is gradually weakened. To sum up, the demerits of the beauty value by far outweigh its virtues.