Comment by qubax | Hacker News Reader

Comment by qubax | Hacker News Reader

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> It's probably safe to say that females are culturally programmed to spend more time on their looks, to be spend more time looking at themselves.

Or naturally programmed.

> Also, of course, to cater to male gaze.

So naturally programmed? Also, women "paint their face" not just for the male gaze but also to establish their place within the female hierarchy. Generally, the prettier and healthier females tend to have higher status within the female hierarchy.

> So, yeah, it's safe to say women are more self-obsessed, and it's safe to say that the pressure to remain that way must be intense.

Just as men are pressured into earning money, being strong and maintaining status. Or is it natural internal pressure rather than societal pressure?

Is it society that's pressuring women or is it that women naturally gravitate towards it? Not sure where you live but in the US, society and media are pressuring women not towards femininity but masculinity. I just saw an army ad and there was a lot of female representation in it when females make up a tiny portion of the army. Even in the army, where you don't wear much makeup, I bet women take more selfies and share them.

Could it be that females in general are just more naturally programmed into sharing and communicating with people?

So naturally programmed? Also, women "paint their face" not just for the male gaze but also to establish their place within the female hierarchy. Generally, the prettier and healthier females tend to have higher status within the female hierarchy.

Of course for most of human history (including now in some parts, and maybe again soon in Western nations) men painted their faces too. And wore high heels. The history of makeup and self adornments doesn’t in any way support your hypothesis. It’s like people who think that girls naturally gravitate to the color pink while remaining blissfully ignorant of how recent a marketing construction that really is, and how pink is perceived in other cultures.

What is this female hierarchy you speak of? No-one has inducted me into it yet, but you seem to know what you're talking about so maybe you can point me in the right direction.

You never heard of social hierarchies? It’s definitely a thing. It’s abstract.

Oh, you can tell me more about them then! I'm just curious because in my admittedly short experience as an adult I haven't yet encountered this hierarchy of pretty/healthy females and certainly haven't established my place in it via makeup or lack thereof.

They prefer to be called women. This is an important detail if you want to know more of them.

Is that so? I certainly would have thought that "pretty and healthy females" is a perfectly normal phrase that often comes up in women's conversations/thoughts if you hadn't informed me otherwise. Thank you!

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