"Plaits"

Since we are little girls we are taught different values than boys. We are raised in a way that they set an image of a beautiful woman which we have to follow. They teach us that women represent beauty and elegance. As we grow up we see beautiful women on television and on movies which we look up to. They become our role models and are forced to look like them.

In the story “Plaits”, Frankie experiences the opposite of beauty. By cutting her hair people saw her as a different child. Society has an image of women which they tend to follow. People do not see beyond that. A woman is supposed to have long, silky hair. If a women dares to cut their hair they are judge and seen as men.

When I was little I remember that once my dad told me that I couldn’t cut my hair short during the summer or else I was going to lose my beauty and look like a men. My dad told me that a women’s beauty was based on the hair and body. If we showed that we take care of ourselves by looking beautiful more men were going to want us.

Society is forcing us to follow the perfect image of the women in every front cover of a magazine. If we don’t follow that image we are seen as an ugly woman. Since many women are afraid what others are going to say or judge us about we tend to just follow and not express ourselves. We are afraid of losing our beauty and get stereotyped.