Susan Brownmiller's View Of Femininity

“The world smiles favorably on the feminine woman. . .” - Susan Brownmiller, Femininity I find this statement from Susan Brownmiller to be true in every sense of the word, as well as an incredibly sad narrative. Women are only adored when they appear either the way others want them to look or when they seem just plain womanly, as well as when their femininity helps support men’s sense of masculinity. Yet, unsurprisingly, this same idea of perfectionism and femininity can be taxing on young women and girls. When it comes to femininity in general, women are expected to look their best 100% of the time, no excuses, and when a woman doesn’t meet this standard she is perceived as “not caring about how she looks” (Tannen). Just because she has

Women are judged on everything from their hair, shoes, and makeup, to their chosen titles. Yet the more a woman complies with certain expectations the more feminine she is deemed, and therefore the more likely she is to be rewarded by society with various minuscule privileges. Being called beautiful, which is inherently linked to femininity, is said to “name something essential to women’s character” (Sontag). This gross association makes it seem as if it is okay to judge a woman based off of her physical appearance rather than her character or intellect; this also ties into the fact that people are often shocked when a beautiful person is also “intelligent, talented, [and] good” (Sontag), showing how little people expect from those of the attractive variety. This idea that beauty and femininity is highly regarded over everything else can also be extremely damaging to young girls. For example, Alice Walker’s story, as a young girl she always wore nice dresses and had her hair done, therefore she was loved by her entire community, but when she got shot in the eye by

As Susan Sontag put it, “[beauty] is not the power to do but the power to attract”, meaning a woman’s beauty isn’t necessarily a “power” to be proud of since it doesn’t help one do anything, just a way to charm someone. Many people, especially men believe women should use their femininity to appeal to them and make them happy, while also keeping them secure in their masculinity. Women are taught, as young girls, to use their beauty and coquettishness to “please adults” and to always be attentive to a “man’s sense of inadequacy” (Theroux). The idea is that the more good-looking a woman is, the more she is able to help a man feel better about himself, but why is it like this? Who suddenly decided that women were the answer to men’s insecurity? This can more than likely be traced back to when Protestant Christianity decided excellence was to be determined by “moral virtue only”, thus setting “beauty adrift—as an alienated, arbitrary, superficial enchantment” (Sontag). (And we all know how men love forbidden things.) At the same time that women are viewed as keeping themselves up to please men, they are also ridiculed for being “‘superficial’” (Sontag), which leaves them in a catch-22. Further, when a woman decides to do something for herself, or better, doesn’t look the way a man wants “men see it as a hostile refusal to please them” (Tannen). It almost seems as if it doesn’t matter what women do, if men