The Double Standard (Part I: The Workplace)

I can honestly say that I think The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf is the first piece of nonfiction literature that I have ever read and fully enjoyed. From the introduction and definition of what the Beauty Myth is, I was hooked, not solely because of Wolf's bold statements and pointing observations, but because of how true everything is that she said. In addition to stark data to back up each of her chilling points, it was no difficult task for me to think of my own examples of things she was saying.

For example, Wolf describes television journalism, a career that I myself have considered at one point. She describes the typical broadcasting duo of a "avuncular male anchor joined by a much younger female newscaster with a professional prettiness level" (Wolf 34). Immediately, I thought of the Will Ferrell movie Anchorman. Ferrells character, a hairy, slightly chubby anchorman is joined by an attractive, intelligent, talented co-anchor - a woman. She is the only woman on the news team and is constantly the victim of cruel comments and cold treatment by her co-workers. The only other women on the staff work in the cosmetics department, and seemed stunned by her desire to work alongside the males. At first she is only given frivolous stories to focus on as her talent is overlooked because of her gender.

Although this is only a movie (and a comedy at that) and set in the sixties, similar conditions for anchormen and women still existed up through the 1990s when Wolf wrote her book. Although men are viewed as looking more dignified reading the news as they age, women anchorwomen go through "a real nightmare [...] because soon they won't be pretty enough to do the news anymore" (Wolf 35).

Not only is this a complete double standard, but it isn't a double standard of the past. This book was published in 1990, so a few of the references are slightly outdated. Nonetheless, basically every aspect of the Beauty Myth that Wolf mentions still holds true in today's society, twenty two years later. Women are still hired for their beauty, ostracized in the workplace for being too pretty or too plain.

Women are fired for not being attractive enough or not upholding their appearance and judges rule that it is "not sex discrimination but market logic" (Wolf 37).

I find this shocking. In a self-proclaimed free and tolerant country, women should not be held to a different standard as men. If women are required to dress a certain way for a job, men should be as well. If men harass female coworkers, they should be held responsible, not exonerated because, as Wolf says, "Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when deciding what provokes it" (Wolf 45). Also, quite hypocritically, only 15 percent of women surveyed said they use their appearance to their advantage in the workplace, whereas 35 percent of men gave the same answer.

Additionally, while male models are certainly present in advertisements on TV and in magazines, female models are literally everywhere. With that, Wolf states that "the model fantasy is probably the most widespread contemporary dream shared by young women from all backgrounds" (Wolf 41).

The beauty industry and advertising companies can be partially blamed for that, where double standards run rampant...