The Double Standard of Beauty is Driven by the Patriarchal Aim to Control Women

By Lady Whistledown

A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession with female beauty but an obsession with female obedience; male dominated industries and systems find it most convenient for us to be species of conformity and complacency, as a population comprised of this archetype acts as a buffer against the potential distortion of traditional power dynamics. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in history. A quietly mad population is a tractable one. They want us focused on our appearance and obsessed with picking apart our bodies to have our attention distracted. It is not the desire to be beautiful that is wrong, but the obligation for women to be so. 

In a world confronted by far more urgent challenges, this is their way of locking us in the cave of Plato’s allegory. Despite contemporary novelists such as Atwood writing “The Handmaid’s Tale” with the intention of mirroring 1980s society, many have drawn stark parallels of the Republic of Gilead to 21st century politics. A society that convinces us to fixate on our appearance, stealthily strips us of our agency. The subconscious entrapment of our minds within this metaphorical cage stifles the potential for collective resistance and liberation. This dynamic explains why numerous women are systematically excluded from positions of power conventionally ‘meant for men’.

In many respects, some women do not aspire to take on demanding roles or pursue positions of power traditionally associated with men. However, the crux of my argument is that they should be given the freedom to choose authentically, and not indoctrinated into a given lifestyle.