Society has always placed a great emphasis upon the importance of a womans appearance, and through that emphasis women have instinctively been taught to measure their self-worth in terms of the image they present, even more so than their intelligence. They have been given rigid and challenging standards to live up to, standards that are usually unrealistic, unattainable, and disheartening. Many women spend a large majority of their lives suffering trying to meet these standards. The ideal body image in this country today seems to be the long-haired 57, 95 lb female found in every fashion magazine, every sitcom and every movie you will ever see. However, many women at 57 could starve themselves for their entire lives and die of malnutrition before they would reach 95lbs, and many women do.Some women go to great lengths to improve their appearances, even at the risk of their health or discomfort. Women spend billions of dollars every year to have silicone put into their breasts, to get their noses reshaped, or to get the fat sucked out of their thighs. An important question to ask is why these things even matter. Why would you put your life at risk to enlarge your breasts? The answer to this question is that women today value a mans approval so highly that to gain a mans admiration they will do almost anything. Women spend large amounts of time every day painting their faces, so that they might look a little brighter, counting their calories, so that they might not reach a healthy weight, because society has taught them that healthy is fat.Standards for a womans appearance were obviously set by men, for men. Women have been suffering since the beginning of time trying to please these men, fixing their hair every morning, wearing girdles, cooking for them, cleaning for them, etc. Apparently, according to history and fashion magazines, the only acceptable way to be a true woman, a woman who can gain the acceptance of a man, is ...
