Are Fairy Tales to Blame?

I want to continue some of the thoughts that Maureen started about feminism and women in fairy tales. Maureen said:
"These women are the ideal and fit within the current popular definition of a beautiful desirable woman (although the fairy tales don't say anything about the size of Cinderella's chest and/or implants). Modern women devote a large part of their life trying to achieve the ideals that have been absorbed since childhood. The Cathy comic sums up the problem: a "fairy tale" life is unrealistic and unfulfilling for a modern woman."

Is it so wrong that women want to be attractive? I'm not really sure that this is a result of fairy tales so much as a result of anthropology, and I think we touched on this briefly in class. If you have taken a class with Professor McKenna, you have probably heard him harp on the idea that the things that men look for in a woman are very much represented in the "attractiveness" and looks of the woman. A healthy woman with a good hips to waist ratio means good reproductive capabilities. It's not to say that chest size (and other factors that play into attractiveness from culture to culture) is necessarily included in the anthropological calculation that men subconsciously make, but good skin, healthy weight and other outward proof of good health and reproductive abilities are definitely a result of more than just superficial cultural influences. (On that note, someone could discuss Matty's post and the anthropological factors that are important to women when choosing a mate...)

So back to being a modern woman. I think society has come to value more than just attractive women. Since we're in a class at a university, I would assume that the main concern is intelligent women... it might not be equivalent to the respect that intelligent men receive, but I think intelligent women have become much more respected. It is actually a fairly common fear among women that their attractiveness will make it difficult for them to be taken seriously in the business and/or academic world. In fact, many women have to downplay their femininity in order to feel as though they are on equal footing with men in the workplace.

Basically I think it comes down to things being relative... little girls might grow up thinking that they should be pretty and wear big pink dresses and be like a pretty princess (omg did anyone have that board game when they were little?! Pretty Pretty Princess? I just remembered it.), but for many people goals change as they grow up. And it can't be denied that attractiveness is important to women, but I think it's more about evolution and competition than superficiality.