The only way to win is not to play

The world is inherently unfair. And many times, you can't discuss these issues concerning religion, race, or gender / sex without being drawn into a pointless exchange of rage and accusations.

Everyone has their own ideals and for many, these are unshakable. Naomi Wolf outlines her such ideals on the belief that beauty is hardly just an innocent appreciation for the aesthetic. My take on beauty is that it surely has gone to extremes within the United States as Wolf mentions. Appealing appearance being a more desired goal than probably more practical ones has definitely shown itself, like Wolf says, in the market of cosmetics, etc. These social pressures are pervasive force that pressures inhabitants to follow certain guidelines with extreme prejudice.

Since the United States has somewhat moved past utter poverty and have allowed more luxuries to become widespread, people are given the opportunity to compete with the usually more advantaged folk; one front is the beauty factor. Given the standard of living the country has, we have more time available to make efforts into those purposes until those purposes become standard themselves. Looking at how ingained the "normal" concept of beauty is into our society, just how much rehaul would it take to equalize?