Months ago, in a class of my doctorate program, a male classmate and the professor started a discussion about educated women’s relative ugliness claiming that women who enter higher education are uglier than the less educated. After participation in this debate, I wondered if women are always judged by their appearances regardless of their accomplishments.
I interviewed twenty male and ten female lecturers of different academic levels in the social science departments of three major public universities about their idea of educated women’s relative ugliness. I found out that fourteen male lecturers agreed with the idea and offered different explanations for the relative ugliness of educated women. They mentioned women’s difficulty in finding a husband that helps them focus on their studies, their desire to seek attention, and a way to win the natural sexual competition with other women.
Four male lecturers declared they never paid attention to their female students’ looks, and the other two male respondents believed the idea was right not only about women but also men. Among ten female lecturers, six respondents found the idea stigmatizing; three respondents noted that it might be right for several reasons such as undesirability of ugly women for marriage and their inclination to act masculine, which helps them gain educational achievements. One interviewee believed that the idea applies to men, not women. The results show the high emphasis on the relationship between beauty and femininity; they also indicate that women are judged by their appearances regardless of their position and social status. Beauty is a means to undermine women’s achievements in a culture that expects them to give up personal achievements. The stigma of ugliness is the penalty women pay for entering into the masculine arena of higher education.
Published by Ladan Rahbari
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