The Ugly Truth about Beauty

In the essay, ‘The Ugly Truth about Beauty’, Dave Barry argues that the way beauty is
perceived diverges between genders due to society’s beauty standards, and highlights
an array of ways in which these gender stereotypes are internalized. Barry supports his
claim by illustrating the key differences which further perpetuate these stereotypes such
as the toys we play with, the people we look up to and beauty standards we try and
keep up with. The author’s purpose is to shed light on the pressures we put on women
to look a certain way in order to prevent women from falling for such stereotypes, and
devoting an unnecessary amount of time to looking a certain way.

The first way in which Dave Barry illustrates the existing beauty stereotypes for different
genders is by describing the beauty standards and expectations for both men and
women. Barry argues that most men grow up in an environment which does not expect
them to look a certain way, as a result the thought of looking ‘average’ does not bother
them. In fact, even if a man does not look particularly attractive, he still has a high self-
esteem in the way he looks, and Barry humorously conveys this point in the sentence,
‘Men will think this even if their faces cause heart failure in cattle at a range of 300
yards.’ This hyperbole highlights a very important point about the self-confidence men
have, mostly due to lesser pressure on them to ‘look good’. However women, from a
young age, are raised in such a manner wherein their looks are held of high importance,
among their female peers as well as men. As a result, women are almost never satisfied
with the way they look, and are constantly trying to make themselves look more
attractive, thereby demonstrating the lack of self-confidence that most women grow up
with in terms of beauty. Barry supports this point using a humorous example of women
perceiving themselves as animals when they look in the mirror. The self-confidence and
societal pressures due to such beauty standards demonstrates pertinent truths of how
gender and beauty stereotypes are internalized.

Barry also talks about the different toys that girls and boys play with from a young age,
and how those are influential in how different genders internalize beauty standards. He
describes how the different characteristic a toy possesses is important in influencing the
minds of younger children, and what qualities they want. In the passage, Dave Barry
uses a Barbie doll as an example for the type of toy that is more popular amongst
younger girls. These girls grow up wanting to look similar to such dolls and thereby are
building such unattainable standards in their minds, as a result contributing to the
beauty stereotypes. ‘Girls grow up playing with a doll proportioned such that, if it were
human, it would be seven feet tall and weigh 81 pounds, of which 53 pounds would be
bosoms.’ This sentence, though and exaggeration, demonstrates the ridiculous
standards that are drilled into women from a young age. Barry then uses an example of
the toy that his son plays with, Buzz-Off. He talks about Buzz-Off’s unappealing looks
due to the fact that he was half-human and half-fly. But despite his looks, Barry highlight
an important point of a quality that Buzz-Off had, high self-confidence. He writes, ‘Buzz-
Off was not a looker. But he was extremely self-confident’. This directly shows that boys
grow up with the impression that they do not have to pay much attention to the way they
look, but are taught to possess and inherit other qualities such as bravery and self-
confidence, which again demonstrates how another beauty stereotype is internalized.

Dave Barry also talks about the different celebrities and role models we look up to, and
how these may have an important role in perpetuating such stereotypes. Barry uses a
moment on the Oprah Show in which Cindy Crawford is demonstrating to a crowd filled
with women on how to apply makeup. Barry humorously states that to any ordinary
observer, no matter how much makeup the women in the crowd put, they will never look
like Cindy Crawford, who is compared to a ‘genetic mutation’. By women striving to look
like people such as Cindy Crawford, they are yet again building up unattainable
standards in their heads and therefore leading to lower self-confidence.

In conclusion, Dave Barry shows us how different societal stereotypes are internalized,
demonstrating how it all starts from and very young age by the toys we are exposed to,
and continues later in life when trying to keep up with societal beauty standards. Barry
tries and advises women not to pay heed to any such extra stereotypes through
highlighting men's attitudes towards it, and showing we don’t pay as much attention as
they think.