Are We Really Worse Off?

When Naomi Wolf talks about the relationship between female liberation and female beauty, she says that while females are liberated with more power and recognition, and their physical and mental conditions are worse off because of worrying about weight and aging. Similar to the controversy in femininity where whether females should be satisfied to be housewives or should be independent from men is argued, females also have choices to choose between being free from the social pressure of beauty or go along with the social norm to pursue beauty. I think Wolf's idea can be debated in two sides: human's right to choose their appearance and the fight against harmful social norms. Most girls grow up in an environment that teaches them to love prettiness, cuteness, or sexiness, while most humans grow up in an environment that teaches them to love cleanliness and tidiness. Therefore, in order to maintain our health, we need to follow the science of healthiness, which can be extended to that in order to maintain females' competitiveness in their careers, social live, or for men, they also have to follow the science of beauty. I suggest that as long as those females value beauty, which they think can improve their live, they have the right to go for it.