![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Leather_Fetish_Shoes.jpg\" "\\"Leather_Fetish_Shoes\\"")
<\/a>that young women wear today. They\u2019re sexy and make long legs look even longer. They\u2019re called killer for a reason. They kill, meaning they make a statement, one that is guaranteed to get a lot of attention from the opposite sex. It doesn\u2019t matter that in a few decades these women might be dealing with hammer toes and\u00a0 other foot complaints making it painful for them to even walk.<\/p>\nBack when I was a model and wore 2 \u00bc\u201d heels because I was tall enough at 5\u20198\u201d,\u00a0 I had difficulty with bunions and corns, resulting from squeezing my feet into shoes with pointed toes and raised heels. I have a friend who wore 3\u201d heels back then and now can only wear sensible walking shoes and even that is a problem. She is in pain all the time. So when I see women tottering on towering spikes, I wonder what they\u2019re thinking. Are all the admiring looks worth permanent injuries to their feet down the road?<\/p>\n
And speaking of killer, one court in a distant land concluded those stratospheric heels were weapons when one young woman used them to beat up another woman who had eyes on her boyfriend.<\/p>\n
But forget the shoes for a moment. It\u2019s only a piece of what\u2019s going on right now. The Maclean\u2019s article goes on to say how beauty can get you those high paying jobs. A number of recently published books stress that looks trump education and experience, not to say that the latter two don\u2019t matter. What strikes me however, is not how unfair this all is to the average worker out there, but how once again, there is too much emphasis on skin deep beauty and rather than losing ground, that emphasis is gaining momentum.<\/p>\n
Shoving needles in your face is now acceptable even if it means freezing that part of your anatomy that shows your life\u2019s journey in more ways than one. Why even dear Oprah, who I admire greatly for her generosity of spirit, has articles on her website that speak glowingly of the benefits of Botox. Yes, she does have alternate views, but the ones relating experiences of cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists and how their appearance has improved with Botox is most compelling. I thought, wait a moment, Oprah. You\u2019re selling out.<\/p>\n And Dr. Phil, who I think comes up with some amazing therapeutic interventions, stunned me a year back when he told one woman, who was depressed, that she might benefit from a face lift. She was tired and frustrated with her teenage daughter. Yeah, her daughter was exceptionally exhausting with her behaviour, but why not get the woman to spend the money on a holiday, some place where she could chill out and take care of herself and her spirit? Or how about a life coach or a therapist instead, someone to help her learn how to support herself through friends, exercise, and a good diet? Why did he think she should change her face? What is that? He hooked her up with a plastic surgeon like he was some kind of benefactor that was going to make everything right in her world. Again, doing things skin deep never solves the larger issues.<\/p>\n What happened to the time when the old woman, or older woman, was regarded as someone who could offer some sage advice? She\u2019d lived. She\u2019d loved. She\u2019d suffered, and oh could she tell you a few things.<\/p>\n Now, a grandmother, I hope my beauty has increased rather than diminished. I have two daughters. One, who\u2019s bought what the magazines in the supermarket are selling and struggles to keep up to the image they\u2019re promoting. She can\u2019t figure out how I can stand living with my wrinkles and undyed hair. (It\u2019s actually quite easy) The other celebrates my look and my age.<\/p>\n When did natural become ugly to so many?<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What lengths would you go to try and live up to the popular media\u2019s conception of beauty? Judging by what is going on in society today, it seems that many… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88],"tags":[188,184,182,164,186,185,187,183],"class_list":["post-715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-botox","tag-dr-phil","tag-killer-heels","tag-macleans","tag-naomi-wolf","tag-oprah","tag-the-beauty-myth","tag-what-price-beauty"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-bx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1951,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/20-genders-and-more-really\/","url_meta":{"origin":715,"position":0},"title":"20 Genders And More, Really?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"25 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning\u2014while taking a break from writing\u00a0a\u00a0novelette, one that shows sex in the 50s\u2014a letter to the editor in a recent Maclean\u2019s magazine caught my attention. The writer mentioned that the government of Ontario\u2019s sex ed. program is planning on teaching\u00a0six genders, when in fact, there are more than 20\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gender Identity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/genderbread-person-gender-identity-graphic.jpg?fit=556%2C1133&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/genderbread-person-gender-identity-graphic.jpg?fit=556%2C1133&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/genderbread-person-gender-identity-graphic.jpg?fit=556%2C1133&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":674,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/uncategorized\/distracted-by-the-fall-of-the-tomato\/","url_meta":{"origin":715,"position":1},"title":"Distracted By The Fall of the Tomato","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"5 \u0412\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Instead of staying focused on writing my mother's memoir, I've been distracted by the plight of the tomato.\u00a0 This may seem odd, when there's so much going on in the world - ongoing fighting in Libya, unrest in Egypt over Mubarek's trial, starvation of unfathomable proportions in Somalia- and yet,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/P10208081-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":493,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/the-battle-over-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":715,"position":2},"title":"The Battle Over Words","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"14 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Awhile ago, I wrote about Stieg Larsson's books, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and his sequels and how impressed I was with his ability to write a page turning novel. As many of his fans know, there's a battle now going on about who owns the words that were\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/the-wife-with-the-angry-memoir1-300x195.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4920,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2020\/uncategorized\/a-day-to-remember\/","url_meta":{"origin":715,"position":3},"title":"A Day to Remember","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"11 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Remembrance Day in Canada is a day to remember those who've fallen in service to our country. We also remember those who've sacrificed the lives they knew and returned from battle, weary and forever scarred. In Canada, we wear a poppy in honour of those who served. Read the amazing\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a day to remember","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0371.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0371.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0371.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0371.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3613,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2018\/writing\/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":715,"position":4},"title":"The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"What writer hasn\u2019t experienced both agony and ecstasy in their writing? Following your passion means subjecting yourself to those highs and lows. Self-doubts of All Writers This post, however, isn't so much about my agony and ecstasy in writing, it's about what all writers go through when they write their\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0889227411&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=dianastevan08-20","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":830,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/love-and-inner-beauty\/","url_meta":{"origin":715,"position":5},"title":"Love and Inner Beauty","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"13 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On Valentine's Day, love is in the air.\u00a0 It's what makes the world go round. We all crave it, we all need it, and we all suffer at times for it. We forget that love and inner beauty go hand in hand. When we forget, we need to write ourselves\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>The Maclean\u2019s article mentions how much has changed in the past two decades. \u201cNaomi Wolf\u2019s 1991 book The Beauty Myth<\/a> <\/em>that argued women were sacrificing feminism\u2019s gains by getting breast implants and following doomed dieting seems quaint 20 years later: women (and men) routinely starve, sculpt and Spanx themselves well into old age\u2026\u201d Well, isn\u2019t that special!<\/p>\n