The Perfect Woman in Black & White

Statement about “Branded” – The Perfect Woman in Black & White

Combing through a mid-1960’s woman’s magazine, I was struck by the constant running theme of having to be the perfect woman pleasing her man - she had to be beautiful, coiffed, a gracious hostess, and doting mother.  Whether or not she had ambition, her own wants, or any other thought in her head seemed irrelevant.  Indeed, it seemed that that ideal image was a marketable brand.  Sadly, in many ways, this brand of perfect wife/mother/sexpot has not progressed very far in forty years.  We are still reminded on a daily basis that we can have it all – motherhood, career, size 00 jeans, and a fabulous man – if we just stay thin and beautiful so that we attract all the right kind of attention.  There can be campaigns for natural beauty, there can be movements to empower women across the world, but until we truly feel that we are worth more than a number on the scale in order to snag a man, we are still simply accepting that the brand of the Perfect Woman is the best that we can be.