Jealousy

My mom is not the hugging, loving, shopping-with-your-mom kind of mom.  She extremely serious, and even when my sister and I are upset she's all business.  Nothing makes her more mad then when my sister and I have those "I'm so fat and ugly days".  She always says the same thing, "Go outside and look around. You girls are prettier than 99% of those people".  Of course she's our mom and she has to say that.  Now thinking about that statement, although totally harmless, I know it is part of the problem.  For years women are constantly comparing themselves to other women.  It is like there is a constant competition for something that is impossible to win.  Is there a prize for being most beautiful? Is even the hottest guy worth constantly trying to look the best? The answer to both of these questions is obviously no. So what is with the constant jealousy ladies?!

In A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft tell on many occasions about this jealousy that girls have for each other.   Wollstonecraft compares men and women and says, "but women are very differently situated with respect to each other-for they are all rivals"(121).  It is amazing to me how even in the 1700s women were competitive and  rivals.  I am confused why this rivalry had been going on for hundreds of years.  Wollstonecraft makes a valid point in bringing up how by paying so much attention to your physical self, one can forget to respect what is on the inside.  She says, "Did women really respect virtue for its own sake, they would not seek for compensation in vanity, for the self-denial which they are obliged to practice to preserve their reputation, nor would they associate with men who set a reputation at defiance" (88).  If women joined together rather then constantly fighting each other, not only would we have more respect for each other, we would have more respect from the men who are apparently so important to impress.