Who decides how women are viewed?

The Beauty Myth has brought to life several different stereotypes and realities about women.  After reading the beginning of The Beauty Myth, my question is, who decides how women are viewed? It appears that while men may expect women to dress and act a certain way, it is the women who keep these gender differences alive.  While some women dress nicely because they like to look and feel pretty, there are most likely women in the world who are dressing the way they do to get a head start.  The book states that their are more men than women using their looks to get ahead, but if I had to guess I would assume it was the opposite.  It is sad what a shallow world we live in but in reality, more women taking this survey my have just been too ashamed to admit that they have used their looks to get ahead.  "By the 1980s, the agents who head hunted anchors kept their test tapes under categories such as, 'Male Anchors: 40-50' with no corresponding categories for women, and ranked women anchors' physical appearance above their delivery skills or their experience."  This shows the double standard for men and women, and how even if males were trying to use their looks to get ahead, it probably would not make a difference.  

On the ABC show The Voice, the judges have their backs turned away from the performers so that they can be voted purely on looks alone.  A show like this give a fair chance for everyone and allowed the people with the best singing voices to make it the furthest in the competition.  What is so interesting about this show is that when a pretty girl comes on stage and the judges don't put their button because they did not love their voice, they are always immediately disappointed that they didn't vote for them.  It is as if the second they see they are a pretty girl, the fact that their voice was not as good as the other contestants is completely forgotten.  This is parallel to how attractive women in an office who may be doing sub-par work can still get away with having their job, simply because they are pretty.  As hard as people may try to have complete equality, as long as people can see, it will be impossible for people not to judge.  Knowing this, I find that it would be very difficult for women to completely reject trying to have a nice appearance.  This also means that both men and women are involved in how women are viewed.  

All or Nothing

Women are very complicated.  A lot of the time it does not make sense that we expect to have all the rights as men, yet expect to be treated different then men.  Jenna Marbles, a youtube celebrity, brought this to my attention.  Women expect to be treated as equals in the work place, but still believe that the man should pay for dinner.  Why should girls get gifts randomly just because they are the girlfriend in the relationship?  Yes, I'll admit, when I have a boyfriend I would be shocked if he didn't at least offer to pay half the bill.  But why is society so prone to believing that women deserve to be pampered when we have worked so hard to become equal to men in every way possible? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ7wT4CUprQ 

The women in The Handmaid's Tale are only used for sex.  The way the society in Gilead is set up is so women are only needed to get pregnant and have babies.  It is interesting how women in our society appear to have the luxury of having a job, being a wife, a mother, and still being pampered just because that is how women are supposed to be treated.  It appears that when women are seen as for only sex, all of those other  positive things in a women's life disappear along with it.  This explains why the women in Gilead are seen as objects.  Also, when the women in Gilead begin seeing themselves as only being used for sex, they begin to lose site of who they really are.  Even Offred, one of the strongest Handmaids, gives up hope and just let fate take control of her situation.  "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Fat lot of good it did for her. Why fight?" (237).  Moira is completely overtaken by the idea that she is only needed for sex when she trades her dignity for some handcream and cigarettes.  "The food's not bad and there's drinks and drugs, if you want it, and we only work nights" (261).  Moira has completely forgotten that women have any other purpose besides sex, and therefore sees her situation as a positive one.  

This makes sense of why women feel the need to have all the benefits that men have and more.  This also proves why there is a double standard between men and women in general about sex. By taking everything away from the Handmaids, we see how important everything women have in our society is for their self-esteem and security.  

Justified #2

In an earlier post I discussed if women in the short stories A Jury of Her Peers and Sweat.  After reading The Handmaid's Tale, it is obvious that when people feel they are doing something wrong, they try to justify their actions.  We saw this in the women in both of these short stories, and we see this in both the men and woman in The Handmaid's Tale.

Women in The Handmaid's Tale try to justify the life they are being forced into living.  Because they so vaguely remember their lives before they lived as handmaids, these women are trying to justify their new life so they aren't completely miserable.  The most disturbing part about this justification is that at some point these women begin to believe in the society that they have been forced into.  When Janine tells the other handmaids about how she had been raped when she was fourteen and got an abortion, rather than feeling sympathy like they would in their old lives, the handmaids blame Janine for the rape.  After seeing Janine in despair and chanting things like "her fault", "teach her a lesson", and "cry baby", Offred thinks to herself, "we meant it, which is the bad part" (82).  This proves how eventually these women have been completely taken over by their new life.  The biggest example of justification in women is seen in Moira.  "So here I am.  They even give you face cream. You should figure out some way of getting in here. You'd have three or four good years before your snatch wears out and they send you to the boneyard.  The food's not bad and there's drink and drugs, if you want, and we only work nights." (261).  Moira is essentially living in a brothel and she is completely trying to justify what she is doing.  Offred understands that Moira's lifestyle is degrading and wrong but all Moira sees is that now she has face wash and a different kind of freedom.  This shows how some women have really forgotten who they are and have completely given into this new society.

The only reason this society can function smoothly is because the men who are leading the society are trying to justify their actions.  It appears that most men understand that what they are doing is wrong, they just try and convince themselves otherwise.  The negative things from the past are driving this horrible society to continue functioning.  They also make exceptions to the strict society that they have created.  "Nature demands variety, for men.  It stands to reason, it's part of the procreational strategy.  It's Nature's plan." (249).  It is clearly much easier for men to be happy in Gilead. The commanders will try and say the old society was wrong, when in reality they are trying to hold on to those old ways any way they can.