heavyweightheart:

women’s appearance is often viewed as existing on a scale from unattractive to attractive, but that’s way too benign a conceptualization. the reality is that we exist on a scale from dehumanized to acceptable. attractiveness is just one of many qualities that a human might have; for us, physical configurations are often matters of life and death. our bodies determine whether we’ll be treated w some degree of basic human decency, or whether we’ll be utterly discarded by the world. meeting the criteria for women’s appearance under patriarchy is not a question of mere attractiveness but of emotional and physical survival