The beauty of women

We read in the ARA about the book by British journalist Ellen AtlantaVirtual Diva(Deusto, 2025), where he criticizes the business ofinfluencers"as a symptom of what millions of girls and women experience today," who "feel compelled" to imitate and admire her content. The publication discusses the model andinfluencerKylie Jenner, who embodies a "patriarchal beauty standard that is becoming increasingly strict, but disguised as female empowerment."

The post, which has the merit of being an insider's perspective—because the author has been involved in the fashion industry—reminds me of that book, The Western HaremFrom Fatima Mernissi, which stirred up so much controversy. Mernissi essentially argued that makeup and the "need" for Western women to be beautiful were also a prison. She maintained that the harems we imagined in this corner of the world (she was born in a harem) had nothing to do with reality, because "the odalisques were cultured women" and "they were united and intelligent." For me, the fact that they were intelligent—which I don't doubt—doesn't make me forget what they did for a living, listen.

I wonder what the "patriarchal beauty standard" is. Are there any traits, sought after or spontaneous, that are more patriarchal than others? Is being blonde, for example, more patriarchal than being brunette? Having large breasts would be more patriarchal than having small ones, and therefore, breast augmentation surgery would be a patriarchal operation, unlike breast reduction surgery, wouldn't it? Would being a heavier woman be patriarchal beauty? Or not, depending on the generation of patriarchs we're talking about? Would short hair be less patriarchal? And long hair, patriarchal? Would you exhibit patriarchal behavior if you wanted, for example, to gain weight? Or perhaps if you wanted butt implants? What if you didn't want to be anything and it just so happened that your physical features spontaneously pleased the patriarchy? Are the tastes of the patriarchy and the matriarchy different? Is being beautiful, in short, patriarchal?