Beauty is important to women; they love dressing up and looking nice. Are they looking nice for themselves or to impress the eyes of men who are holding women to standards? In the article, “The Ugly Truth About Beauty” Dave Barry, the author, talks about how women feel they are held to the standards set by men, but in reality, men do not care. In this article the author is on what some might say is a cliche, “his high horse.” Women are putting pressure on themselves when men don’t care, and they don’t even notice the beauty efforts women make. Due to the expectations in society, women feel the need to look their best, and in reality, men do not even care. According to Barry, women put many efforts into their appearances, but men do not seem to notice. Generally, women feel that the more effort they put into their looks, the more attention they will receive from men. Therefore, men do not even take the time to acknowledge their efforts. In fact, Barry said himself, “Men don’t even notice 97 percent of the beauty efforts you make anyway” (Barry par. 8). Men don’t pay attention to women's appearance, so why would they care about their own? Women grow up with the expectations to look like their own Barbie dolls while men have toy figures as boys that don’t influence them on an appearance of how they should look. To men, their beauty care consists of shaving, so they view themselves as average and to most women they view themselves as unappealing; therefore, they have a step-by-step process for “getting ready,” which requires time and attention. Women spend more time on their looks than men do; this is the difference between the two. This leads to the overall conflict of the essay: there is never a right answer when a woman asks, “How do I look?” (qtd. in Barry par. 1). In the opinion of Barry, the best technique when approaching this question is to give a truthful and contemplative opinion. Usually, no matter what answer is given to the woman, she will become upset. This is because women think differently than men when it comes to appearances. Women need to understand men don’t care. In society today, women typically pay attention to their bodies more than men. Barry said, “The problem is women generally do not think of their looks in the same way as men do” (Barry par. 4). Barry is saying that the way women look at themselves is different than how men look at themselves. I agree with Barry and what he is stating. Women are putting pressure on themselves to look a certain way and critiquing their own body when men do not do this. Men are unaware of little changes let alone how a woman looks. According to Barry, “Men don’t even notice 97 percent of the beauty efforts you make anyway” (Barry par. 10). Barry is saying that women could go get a haircut, new outfit, nails done, and men would not even notice. I agree with what Barry is saying. My mom gets her hair colored every two months and sometimes I don’t notice for a couple of days that it was re-dyed. I had a haircut three months ago; someone last week asked me if I just had it cut. If I do not notice my mom re-dying her hair or someone that goes to school with me doesn’t notice my haircut for a month, how do women expect men to notice little changes? Men hold women to a standard, and they don’t realize it. Barry says, “Of course many women will argue that the reason they become obsessed with trying to look like Cindy Crawford is that men, being as shallow as a drop of spit, WANT women to look that way” (Barry par. 12). Men become obsessed with the ideal look of women that they truly expect women to try their best efforts to match what their mind wants them to look like. What Barry says here is invalid to me. Being a senior in high school, I constantly hear guys talking about models and actresses and, “what they would do for a girl like that” as most of them say. These boys carry this thought into college with them and look for a girl that looks like their ideal actress or model. Women will not stop holding themselves to standards until men realize that they have standards. Dave Barry in, “The Ugly Truth About Beauty” claims that the standards women are holding themselves to is not because of men. Society and men are telling women they need to look a certain way, so they are. When men realize that there is pressure on women, and they start paying attention, women might lower their efforts on trying to look their best.
Works Cited Berry, Dave. “The Ugly Truth About Beauty.” Delta College, Delta College, 2008, https://classroom.google.com/u/0/c/mte0nda4mdg4mlpa.