Women are mere "beauties" in men's culture so that culture can be kept male. When women in culture show character, they are not desirable, as opposed to the desirable. A beautiful heroine is a contradiction in terms, since heroism is about individuality, interesting and ever changing, while "beauty" is generic, boring, and inert. While culture works out moral dilemmas, "beauty" is amoral: If a woman is born resembling an art object, it is an accident of nature, a fickle consensus of mass perception, a peculiar coincidence--but it is not a moral act. From the "beauties" in male culture, women learn a bitter amoral lesson--that the moral lessons of their culture exclude them. Naomi Wolf
About This Quote

The modern idea of beauty is a lie. The idea that women are only valued for their looks is a lie. Women have characters, personalities, and traits that men do not have. They are not just a pretty face that a man can use to get what he wants. Women have intelligence, intelligence that can be used to help others, intelligence that can help them discover who they want to be in life.

Source: The Beauty Myth

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