[don't] look at me - II

“Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.” ― Mary Wollstonecraft, 1792 ― For centuries, women have been reduced to their appearance, their physical beauty deemed their only worth. Western philosophers who have shaped our collective thinking - Aristotle[i], Socrates[ii], Jean-Jacques Rousseau[iii], Darwin[iv], Schopenhauer[v], Nietzsche[vi] - compared women to animals, incapable of rational thought, devoid of intelligence. And although present generations are desperately trying to escape these narrow confinements, the ingrained programming leaves many women struggling with their self-worth. The objectification of the female body is an effective form of dehumanization. Women's sexuality is exploited and suppressed at the same time. Admired and reviled, chased and judged, praised and ridiculed. This oppressive societal schizophrenia is mirrored in every woman's soul.