Sasha Ree Binder AP Lang 27 February 2012 Womens Eternal Master A good friend of mine once told me that

I looked nice with eyeliner on and that I should wear it every day. Before I could even say anything to her somewhat backhanded compliment, she quickly assured me that I looked pretty without it on but even prettier with it on and therefore my eyeliner-coated eyes should be a daily occurrence. From this, I realized that my bare face is less preferred than my made-up face, which pressured me to wear makeup more often. I am a slave to beauty all women are. Beauty is emphasized everywhere: in magazines, on billboards, on posters, in fashion. The actual definition of beauty is shaped by society and has morphed over the years, but the ridiculously powerful influence of beauty has remained the same for the entire history of mankind. Our first judgment upon seeing someone new is based on the way they look, and first impressions are what hold out the longest; beauty has the most authority in our heads. After all, how can something subordinate us and empower us simultaneously? Women are the biggest slaves to beauty; they are constantly pressured to have thinner limbs, to have a smaller waist, to have clearer skin, to have straighter hair, to be beautiful. However, this is a thin line a woman walks too pretty and she is looked down upon as a senseless bimbo, too rough around the edges and she is scorned for being unattractive. In this sense, the way women are taught to be involved with beautyreinforces dependence and immaturity (Sontag). Beauty cripples humans because we will never be free of it. The

fact that beauty influences us in every manner possible, the fact that no matter what, we will never cease to judge a person based on their looks, the fact that we make essays and books and articles about this very topic screams out that we are slaves to beauty. If we were truly free of the heavy chains of beauty, it would not even register in our minds as an important attribute; it would simply be a fact and nothing more. Contrary to what some may think, to be free of beauty does not mean to go directly against it and not care about physical appearance whatsoever. Being completely unrestrained of beauty means being impartial to its effect and ignoring all skin-deep preliminary impressions it may give us before we get to know the subjects personality. Nevertheless, those who master the art of looking beautiful are blessed by beauty. The lucky women who are deemed beautiful are immediately placed by society on a higher scale than the average person. Nancy Etcoff says, there is tremendous power in a womans beauty (Etcoff) because the beautiful give a feeling of pleasure to the viewer and thus are more appealing to the public. And who wouldnt want this power? We criticize those who put substantial effort into their appearance, but when they get offered more because they are more attractive, they will be the ones who benefit in the end. Fighting against beautys influence will do little to naught, so we may as well conform to it and conceal our freckles, lengthen our eyelashes, and plump up our lips. Slaving away to fit the standards of beauty already seems despicable enough, but women place themselves under even worse conditions. We literally ruin our bodies and our health in order to fit the standard of what is beautiful. As Angela Carter so accurately observes, designers are trying to make us cripple our feet again with high-heeled shoes (Carter). Designers dont give a damn about comfort; it is style which holds the highest

importance because style is intended to compliment and emphasize a womans beauty and after all, beauty is what governs society. Throughout history, women have squeezed themselves into tight-fitting corsets to have the desirable hourglass body and bound their feet to fit into the smallest shoe possible to be more dainty and damaged their spines by stumbling around in 6-inch stilettos to be taller and more elegant and starved themselves into size zero skinny jeans to show off their slenderness and all for what? For beauty. To put beauty and comfort in the same sentence is laughable; a woman cannot be perfectly beautiful while being perfectly comfortable at the same time. Our cruel and unforgiving master simply does not allow the two to co-exist. Women are pressured to be beautiful people can deny it all they want and claim that women are no more pressured than men are to look good but since when have we admired a man for his long, slender legs? Or his thick eyelashes? Or his delicate hands, small nose, big eyes, or luscious lips? We have never. All of these characteristics are indicators of femininity; the word beauty has become equivalent to the word feminine. And unfortunately, women truly are perpetual slaves to beauty. Some may detest beauty because it really is only skin-deep, some may blatantly go against societys ideal of beauty just to disagree, some may look down on those who put effort into their looks and call them silly and shallow, but simply by doing so, these critics are exhibiting their weakness to beauty. We subject ourselves to beautys critical eye and as a result place ourselves under its everlasting rule. No one is at fault but us.