Beauty: The Oppression Of Women

Often medicines were made from herbs, spices and resins. The medicine was applied in drinks, pills, washes, baths, rubs, poultices, purges and ointments. Which sometimes themselves contained fatal ingredients.

Advertisements tell women and girls how they are supposed to look by creating an "ideal female beauty" by using tools such as Photoshop that create impossible beauty standards

The idea that men were stronger began during the hunting-gathering time, since men mostly went out hunting, while women stayed nearby by the house to care for children and gather plants. Biological factors made women more vulnerable at the time which only added onto the idea that women were less than their male counterparts. Men, considering they were not tied to their homes because of pregnancy, or the duties of a housewife, had more time to gain wealth and property through “pillage and force”, making them known as the more powerful figure in society (Richards and Saba).

Now, it is hard to imagine a time where we did not live in a clearly male dominated world. Currently, this is still a prominent issue, whether it is the gender wage gap or gender role discrimination. Nevertheless, it goes further back to the dawn of civilization, and for the women at that time, the freedom women have would be shocking. To the surprise of us all though, there was a time in prehistory where the divide between genders was virtually non-existent. So, what was it that caused the divide? Was the divide itself a necessary evil of the growth of humanity? Ultimately, it is Neolithic period and the prior Paleolithic period that is necessary to understand, to fully comprehend the transformation of gender roles.

The social lives of the Paleolithic foragers greatly differ from that of the Neolithic farmers. This is mostly because of their way of acquiring food. The foragers had plenty of time after they hunted and gathered there food because that was all they had to do while the farmers constantly had to maintain their fields. The foragers spent their free time making art such as cave painting and constructing tools. With what little time the farmers had they used it to build structures, tools and containers for the next harvest. One thing they both had in common was the specific jobs that they assigned to men and women based on each gender’s abilities. In the Paleolithic time the men were the hunters, since they were more muscular,

There is a division between males and females from puberty and into life. This division is most highly expressed in labor. As is typical for many societies, men hunted, fished, went to war, while females collected plants and took care of children. The subarctic people are a hunter-gatherer society. Women in this society are inferior to men. They were not treated well and often beaten by their husbands (Sutton, 87).

From the moment the first American settlers stepped off their musty ship and laid foot on the fertile soil which makes up our great nation, women in America have almost always been seen as inferior when compared to their male counterparts. What’s more, Americans have a rich history in oppressing those we deem to be “lesser.” In terms of women, this oppression has taken on many forms throughout the years. From not being able to go to school to receive a proper education, to being denied suffrage, to being criticized for how they look or what they wear, women have encountered obstacles that men can sometimes only imagine. We as a nation have a defining past in which women were, and sometimes still are, expected to look or act in a manner defined as appropriate by men and even by each other. Nowadays, it seems as though we are attempting to compensate for the years of mistreatment by sending positive messages of acceptance to young girls and women alike. However, while one-half of the population is being praised for their uniqueness, there is still another half who are being left to fend for themselves in the shadows. Men and boys, though always perceived as the strong and indestructible members of society, are not given the same encouraging spotlight as women and girls. We live in a world where problems related to self-image and self-worth are gender-neutral; they do not merely seek to harm a single sex. Why then, does society typically only remind women how truly special they

Men noticed women only as sexual objects, labeling them with a lower status. By projecting women as second-class citizens, men became empowered to enforce unrealistic expectations towards

In today’s society, oppression, in its many structures, exists and has a tendency to be described by areas that both characterize and legitimize social observation and how it identifies with the setting of the establishments that characterize them. The Larger part of these foundations, while essentially having a centre capacity, are by and large, firmly connected with and can be characterized as they relate to different areas. In the section titled Defining challenged ideas, the areas, foundations, and levels of mistreatment are tended to in more detail.

I feel that girls encounter more obstacles and provisions, thus growing up is more difficult for them. For one, society put a lot of emphasis on how a girl should behave and how she should look like. This puts so much pressure on girls to conform to what society “expects” them to be. This often affects a girl’s self-image resulting in low self-esteem and insecurities.

The actions of Delilah in Judges toward Samson accurately depicts that of a woman who has woven her way into the heart of a man only to expose and exploit him for personal gain. This is, perhaps, a founding basis for Milton’s view of women as a naturally inevitable source of weakness for men. But the persona of Delilah created by Milton in Samson Agonistes as she presents an insincere, haughty, and prideful “apology” to Samson is a reflection of what can be seen as Milton’s fear of a deceptive woman in the life of a man. To put it plainly, women left unchecked by a man have potential danger that is unparalleled and it must be kept in check.

Tools as an instrument define an individual 's identity and reality by forming distinction methods through several circumstances. Intelligence, Language, Media, Religion, Science, Status, Class, Gender, Race and Ethnicity are various tools which are used to define people in the society. In this community, individuals do not get a chance to define themselves through actions because the way tools define them, then, there is no chance left to show their power which is why these tools define them by damages. As of the writings, Anne Fausto-Sterling’s “Society Constructs Biology; Biology Constructs Gender”, Stephen Jay Gould’s “Women’s Brain” and Marjane Satrapi’s “The Veil” illustrates and shows clear view of how gender can be effective in the ways that can bring differentiation in an individual’s life. The negative effect of how tools define, one has a huge influence among people’s point of view.

The definition of gender roles is a set of societal norms dictating what types of behavior is generally considered acceptable based on the gender of a person. Additionally, if you don’t seem to accept this standard, there can be huge consequences. For example, in India, women are viewed as a burden and a “extra mouth to feed.” Her status promotes the idea that men can treat them in a subdued manner. If they don’t comply to these requirements, then a woman is murdered by her husband or his family by being set alight by a flammable liquid, which is usually known as bride burning. Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, also uncovers the harsh inequality of women. Gender roles shouldn’t be real and they were forced on us by society.

Society is full of ideas pertaining to the definition of beauty and has been controversial for centuries. Beauty is visually pleasing and can satisfy the other senses as well, but it cannot be fully defined through only the senses. It blossoms from the soul; it is an epitome of serene emotion. Beauty is imperative to the mentality our society maintains as if the world would transform to be completely dark without it. The word “Beauty” originates from the Anglo-French term beute meaning “physical attractiveness” and “goodness and courtesy” (dictionary.com, n.p.) Beauty is charming, mesmerizing, graceful, and captivating. Brutality is invaluable because beauty brings peace to the mind.

The low status of women and girls is due to cultural beliefs and the material cost they represent to their families. Vanaja Dhruvarajan says that there is a belief regarding the nature of men and women: "Men are ritually pure, physically strong, and emotionally mature; women, on the other hand, are ritually pollutable, physically weak, and lack strong willpower" (30). Because of these