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From: jeffd@techbook.com (Jeff Danforth)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Female human aesthetics
Message-ID: <1990Nov12.161218.14529@techbook.com>
Date: 16 Nov 90 02:41:11 GMT
References: <9011012313.AA11775@rpp386.Cactus.ORG> <8654@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
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In article <8654@darkstar.ucsc.edu> carioca@ucscb.ucsc.edu (fOoDFoOdfOoDiTYfooD!) writes:
>..........  Women are expected to be beautiful so that
>they can win the attention of men.  We are taught that being as
>beautiful as possible is the only chance we have to get a boyfriend/
>husband.  Pick up a copy of _Mademoiselle_ or _Vogue_ next time you're
>at the supermarket or 7-11, and read the text that goes along with
>your average fashion spread.  There are *constant* references to
>how attractive you'll be *to men* if you wear this dress or that brand
>of lipstick.  If it were really about attaining something for yourself,
>then there would be far more references to self-confidence and fewer

Before I begin, let me say I have "unsubscribed" to soc.men because it
DOES seem to represent the worst sorts of stereotypes men are so often 
accused of.  Oh, well.  Aargh!

Now, on all this "Personal Grooming Products" stuff and women's sense of
need re: appearance -

Anyone not too squeamish might try reading a classic book, "Feminine
Psychology" by Karen Horney.  It is guaranteed to infuriate some of
you.

I read this book last year thinking it might help me understand and
better relate to women.  What I came away with was a better
understanding of myself is about all - or at least a view of some of
the potentially darker potentials we might all have.  It's not very
uplifting, but if might be interesting.  The author's thesis,
recognizing she is a Freudian psychoanalyst, is pretty much based on
classical Freudian lines.

I hesitate to be more explicit, knowing I may be blasted.  I just READ
the book - I didn't write it.

-- 
jeffd@techbook.COM          ( Jeff Danforth )