Inventing Beauty 2

But having meditated on this subject for several years now, I’ve come to believe that many women have wielded devices and potions built in the name of Beauty in order to transcend the emphasis that mankind places on Beauty. When successful, the artifice of Beauty is a great leveler. It puts the resourceful and the imaginative on an even playing field with the congenially beautiful.

I have thoughts.

Great, here I am Mr. “Someone at Scientific American had the insight to measure a man on a bicycle…” We, in the HCI community, should be about augmenting human capability. Oh good, now I have this quote and this idea and I’m off to the races.

🚨🚨 Danger. 🚨🚨

This is an interesting data point indeed.

What about self-objectification, what insight might it lend about these women inventors, and about “transcending beauty”?

Why does this idea of beauty ‘devices and potions’ as empowerment feel so foreign and satellite?

Anytime I tried to do what the cool kids were doing, I still never made me one of the cool kids. This is a lesson life teaches you. The lesson is : Be yourself. Be honest and authentic. Beauty ‘devices and potions’ as empowerment? I don’t buy it.

nylon stockings and stiletto heels … they are such stunning examples of how man-made materials can transform our ideas of Beauty

Still things to be here for.


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