Day 7: Bitch please!

“First, constant monitoring and repairing required by the pursuit of beauty diverts women’s energy and saps their confidence. Though women are told by L’Oreal ‘you’re worth it!’ this promotes a ‘changing room culture’ in which women are constantly measuring their self worth in terms of how they compare to other women.” (Howson, 2004: 105)


I think it is important to recognize how true this analysis is, the bulk of comments I have received have come from women, and by women I mean any female above the age of 18, and on the whole they have been positive, but always with an undercurrent or silent subtext: They first comment on how great the red lipstick looks then swiftly precede to ask why I am wearing it, with what seems like a hint of resentment because they had not thought of doing the same. Perhaps I have read too far into it but that is the point Howson makes, we have become exceedingly concerned by what our fellow sex thinks about the choices we make or actions we have taken. I am noticeably more concerned by being judged by my girlfriends than by the guys. I do not measure the success of my outfit by the attention I attract from the males in the room but rather by comparing myself to how the other women in the room look.



Fashion faux pas 101 – wearing the same outfit to an important function as someone else, and by someone else I mean someone who could be wearing the outfit better than you. It is almost certain that these two women would not be nearly as concerned by what the males were thinking, as by what the female critics were thinking, saying or writing.