Mandatory Esther Vilar quote :
"
The Horizon of a Woman
Whatever MEN SET ABOUT to impress women with counts for nothing in the world of
women. Only another woman is of importance in her world.
Of course, a woman will always be pleased if a man turns to look at her
- and if he is well dressed or drives an expensive sports car, so much the
better. Her pleasure may be compared to that of a shareholder who finds that
his stocks have risen. It will be a matter of complete indifference to a woman
if he is attractive or looks intelligent. A shareholder is hardly likely to
notice the color of his dividend checks.
But if another woman should turn to look - a rare occurrence, for her own
judgment is infinitely more remorseless than that of a man - her day is made.
She has achieved the impossible - the recognition, admiration, and “love” of
other women.
Yes, only women exist in a woman's world. The women she meets at church, at
parent-teacher meetings, or in the supermarket; the women with whom she chats
over the garden fence; the women at parties or window-shopping in the more
fashionable streets; those she apparently never seems to notice - these women
are the measure of her success or failure. Women's standards correspond to
those in other women's heads, not to those in the heads of men; it is their
judgment that really counts, not that of men. A simple word of praise from
another woman - and all those clumsy, inadequate male compliments fall by the
wayside, for they are just praises out of the mouths of amateurs. Men really
have no idea of what a woman's world means; their fulsome compliments miss all
the vital points.
"
Isnt sexual attraction the point of being gorgeous?
It is, but only from an evolutionary point of view, which means the organism does not need to be aware of the true goal, it merely has to exhibit a behavior that achieves that goal.
For instance, people usually enjoy sugary foods because they like the taste, but the only reason they like the taste is because sugar is high in energy and rare and thus people evolved to have a preference for it (since it's nutritionally valuable you are designed to desire it, and that desire does not need to be limited because you're unlikely to find much of the stuff anyway). You don't like sugar because you think "damn, this is very energy efficient food!". You like it because it tastes good.
In the same manner, whatever drove women to care so much about their appearance, has evolved as an intrinsic motivation, not as a conscious effort to attract males, even if in the end this is what it evolved for.
This is, I believe, why many women are probably sincere when they say they want to look pretty "for themselves" and not for others.
