George Bernard Shaw said, in his play Misalliance,
"They talk of the wickedness and vanity of women painting their faces and wearing auburn
wigs at fifty. But why shouldn't they? Why should a woman allow Nature to put a false
mask of age on her when she knows that she's as young as ever? Why should she look in the
glass and see a wrinkled lie when a touch of fine art will shew her a glorious truth?
The wrinkles are a dodge to repel young men. Suppose she doesn't want to repel young men!
Suppose she likes them!"
Provocative quotation, but let's remember it comes from GBS who often uses irony, humor and reversal to make points. I haven't read "Misalliance," so I checked it out on Wikipedia and found this comment there about it: "Part of Shaw's premise is in the irony that men spend so much energy courting a woman who will be obedient and subservient to them, when what they really desire is a strong woman who will be their equal."
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of your quotation itself, I see nothing wrong with women grooming themselves. Althought the fight against aging is futile, society accepts (and now encourages) women to enhance their appearance in multiple ways (e.g., makeup). There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you're not using it to mask insecurity (better addressed directly).
Hey Little Sister, I was going to make some comment about the amount of money we spend on hiding from who we really are. Fortunately this 'Silver Surfer' is not insecure about the fact that the silver is there, likes young men/eye candy but then REALLY likes older guys and is not scared to flirt with either set. I guess we need to move along at the pace we want to and not be forced into hiding behind a mask that we do not want. L
ReplyDeleteToo funny! Thanks for the laugh!
ReplyDeleteLove it!! Long live vanity! ;-)
ReplyDeleteJessica