Courtesy of wikipedia.com
Iraqi women are demonstrating for more freedom in their country. Some of them wear burkas. Others march bareheaded, reflecting their increased sense of liberation. Each manner of dress raises a question: is their choice conviction or fashion? Don’t underestimate the power of the latter. A woman will make herself a slave to it even as she marches for her rights.
History shows that females have tolerated powdered wigs, circumnavigated in hooped skirts, wore bustles and endured the discomfort of suffocating corsets– even clumped around on stilettos that support little more than bunions—in the name of style.
Even the advent of the Equal Rights Amendment has failed to persuade women to stop savaging themselves for perfection. Take sweat for example. It used to be okay for a girl to “glisten,” but not anymore. Today the remedy of choice is MirDry, a treatment that uses microwaves to burst sweat glands under the arms. No glands, no glistening. (“Money Pits,” by Garrett Munce, Town&Country, March 2020, pg. 76.)
Does it hurt? Yes, like a sunburn. Is it safe? Women say they prefer the treatments to a smear of chemicals on their skins. Unfortunately, the procedure doesn’t work evenly and can leave lumps where sweat glands once dared to overflow. Ouch!
At $4,000 per armpit, the cost for dry underarms comes to $8,000. I suspect the price tag hurts the most
