pretty.girl.feminism

Welcome to the blog of Pretty Girl Feminism!

Just as one can be born black, gay, differently abled, or with a vagina, one can also be born pretty. Pretty babies or ugly babies can grow up to be “pretty” girls or “handsome” boys (save the lucky ones an awkward phase). One may also grow up to be pretty ugly or plain jane – this is NOT to say that those of us who didn’t grow up to LOOK like Angelina Jolie are not beautiful on the INSIDE – we all have that potential and we should all take advantage of that. However, we’re all treated differently, like those born gay, black, differently abled, and/or with a vagina, based on this “beauty hierarchy.” With better looks come certain privileges: better wages, a higher likeliness to be hired, etc, and we hear of these “perks” in feminism, but what has not been explored in feminist theory are the specific set of challenges that the “pretty ones” face.

What’s “pretty” is a fluid concept. Beauty can be argued as to be everlasting and the notion unchanging (women like Cleopatra or Audrey Hepburn for example). In the realm of physical beauty, there are many different ideas of who is considered “pretty” or beautiful. This differs based on time, location, and age. As a young, pretty woman living in the modern United States, I must gripe.