At the age of 10 I received a compliment from an older man, he must have been in his 30’s or so, and it changed me from the inside. I realized quite quickly that I had “something” that men would notice, and it would give me power. Looking back, I can see that what he did was inappropriate, and he should have kept his mouth shut in front of a 10 year old. But the lesson learned was…
…that as a woman, I would be judged on my looks,
…that being “attractive”, according to this world’s standards, opens doors for some and not for others,
…that the suppression of women comes so subtly that we don’t even notice what’s happening, and it starts young.
I was listening to a TED talk ([ted id=2102]) to the other day and the speaker mentioned that google gets asked over 10,000 times a month, “Am I ugly?” and it’s mostly from young girls.
We learn from toddlerhood that we get attention if we are “cute” and life is a bit easier in school if society thinks we are somewhat attractive.
So, what kind of society do we live in? How can we not see the damage that is being done every day in the lives of young girls and women every day? It’s twisted, dark and has deep roots.
to be continued…