Women have the constant pressure of beauty rest
Women have constant pressure of beauty rest:- In the year 1905, a woman writing under the moniker of “Comrade Mary” had dedicated part of her column, titled “In a Woman’s Mind,” to a school in New York where all women learned to “fall asleep gracefully.” The article, which has appeared in an April issue of Worker — an old labor union newspaper from Australia — listed some of the school’s curriculum, which have included sessions, where women’s jaws would be strapped shut at night (to prevent them from sleeping with them agape, of course) and learn to smile pleasantly while dozing.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Most women think they know how to go to sleep even when someone is standing by to keep them awake, but it seems that this confidence in themselves is only rivalled [sic] by their conceit. New York has a school for teaching women how to fall asleep gracefully. At this seminary it takes a month with a strap round the jaws to stop a woman from sleeping with her mouth open catching flies, and another month for her to fall asleep without an ugly gob, and smiling as if she heard the angels singing. It is a long time before is trusted to fall asleep by herself.”
The sheer absurdity of some of these practices aside, the article, though antiquated, highlights that a trend in culture which still exists today: Women should use sleep to work on their appearance; as a time not just to rest, but also to better themselves for the sake of society.
If you have spent any time browsing through women’s magazines or, you know, just being a woman, then you are probably aware of the constant pressure we have to face to look good — and not just during waking hours. Beauty magazines and websites are packed with articles that instruct us how to go to bed looking sexy and wake up looking even sexier. These routines are said to ensure that this pesky little thing called shuteye doesn’t prevent us girls from looking beautiful upon waking.
Have you ever tried out the remedies mentioned in beauty magazines?
If you have every spent any time browsing through women’s magazines or, you know, just being a woman, then you are probably aware of the constant pressure we face to look good — and not just during waking hours.
Now, some of the oft-referenced bedtime beauty routines seem the reasonable enough for someone who is interested in maintaining healthy skin: Wash your face, use moisturizer, use night cream. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of nightly maintenance.
Creative strategies have also doled out to female readers, like, “Just sneak out of the room in the morning before the sun rises so you can fix your face before he sees you!”
This means that makeup (or the lack thereof, rather) is touted as a serious cause for concern. Cosmetics are notoriously known to cause acne, wrinkles and other such irritations if left on overnight. Removing them however, means exposing your true self to the man snoring away beside you. Therefore, creative strategies are doled out to female readers. (“Just wash your makeup off before bedtime and then apply a different, gentler kind before you actually getting into bed!”; “Sneak out of the room in the morning before the sun rises so you can fix your face before he sees you!”)
Comrade Mary, who was described by an editor of the same newspaper as a “quiet, unassuming, dignified and intelligent lady” who had sacrificed her whole life for the benefit of her own sex and the masses in general, would likely not be pleased with the slow evolution regarding sleep and beauty.
To be fair, there are those who have disregard these ridiculous expectations altogether: In her song Flawless, Beyoncé proudly proclaims “I woke up like this” and the phrase has further gained massive popularity with some good reason.
Women everywhere took to the Internet to post selfies of themselves right after waking from sleep, thus rejecting the long-standing expectation that women should mold themselves into pretty sleepers and post-sleepers. Still, it appears that many of those selfie-takers might have read up on how to snap an amazing, perfectly lit photo of themselves first. Comrade Mary would not have approved.
