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Why should beauty be only skin deep?
In her book, The Beauty Bias, Deborah L. Rhode does not just trace the origins of our society's perception of what beauty should look like, but she also presents what that perception of beauty is, and what is being done in order to further propagate such image. The notion of beauty, pursuing it, emulating and maintaining it, according to Rhode, is as ancient as the Homo erectus' fascination with hand axes. Beauty, is not as harmless as choosing the right pair of shoes for a dress, but rather is being used as means to discriminate against those who fail to conform to beauty's predetermined notion. As with any form of discrimination, there are those who suffer more than others and some members of society on whom the burden to conform and remain “beautiful” is by far heavier than other members. In Ms Rhode's eyes, the “burden of beauty” falls heaviest on women, and women are those whom are punished more than their male counterparts when they deviate from the stringent concept of how they should look like. In her book, Ms Rhode, in a systematic manner, paints a rather dreary picture of the modern perception of beauty, however, she offers ample ways and means to remedy the current state of affairs through which all members of society can be enlightened.
Delving into “The Beauty Bias” the underlying premise becomes clear from the very first chapter: a skewed perception of beauty is being insidiously propagated and accompanies each of us since our infancy up to the point when we apply for a lucrative position in an accounting firm, or for a prestigious graduate school. Ms Rhode, aptly names the perpetrators as the media and employers in various sectors. Even the medical and the legal systems are not safe from Ms Rhode's scrutiny: at the center of the problem stands the individual, who naturally wishes to not only fit into the society to which they were born into, but to also advance in its ranks. The individual incurs a tremendous amount