“Chicks are so stupid and frivolous, amiright fellas? Hell, it’s a good thing they only make 70% of the male wage ’cause they’d just spend that extra chunk on more makeup!” *highfive!*

also…I doubt the beauty treatments do as much to enhance women’s appearance as they think they do…as they are led to believe by marketing. most are likely a scam. however, women who just naturally fit the social definition of “beautiful” certainly have more opportunities than those that don’t.

Even if makeup can’t save you (tongue-firmly-in-cheek) the presence of makeup will assure people that you know you’re ugly but at least you’re *trying* to live up to the standards of the patriarchy. You’ve jumped through the hoop poorly, but at least you jumped (unlike those darn man-hating feminists, who are always bitching about “what the hell do you *mean* ‘how high?’ Fuck you.” :p) <–disclaimer: feminists can wear makeup too! I’ve seen ‘em do it! I am exaggerating.

also…I doubt the beauty treatments do as much to enhance women’s appearance as they think they do…as they are led to believe by marketing. most are likely a scam. however, women who just naturally fit the social definition of “beautiful” certainly have more opportunities than those that don’t.

It also damns us financially even if we don’t partake in it, as occupational opportunities, raises, promotions, and socioeconomic mobility through marriage are all much more limited if one tries to ‘opt out’ from regimes of ‘compulsory’ beauty.

So, clearly this is not representative of the average woman. But the Newsweek article’s use of the term “diva” not only doesn’t make it clear that they’re NOT talking about the average woman, it also gives no indication whatsoever about what proportion of the population we’re talking about here. I’m going to guess 1% or something equally small, because even the number of people who COULD afford a lifestyle like this if they wanted it is staggeringly small. I have never met ANYONE who does even a fraction of these things. Granted, academia isn’t the field where one would expect to run into these “divas,” but I’ve known some pretty wealthy people.

The question then becomes, what is the value of reporting about something like this as though it’s an epidemic? What is lost from the discussion of women and compulsory beauty routines when the reporters focus on only the most extreme examples of female behavior? And is this focus on “extremes” (and, more importantly, this treatment of the “extremes” as representatives of normality) more common in stories about women’s behavior as opposed to men’s behavior?