BEAUTY

We believe, or want to believe, that we have free choice about such things. We get angry that looking good applies unequally to women rather than men. Advertising assures us that we can look good (‘fifty is the new thirty’) and the media warn us about breast implants and liposuction surgery that went wrong.

But Beauty can have some strange things about it, as kids learn early. In the Mother Goose rhyme about the milkmaid and the gentleman, he comments on her pleasing appearance, then questions her about her financial status. “My face is my fortune,” she replies. “Then I can’t marry you,” he says. “Nobody asked you,” she retorts, putting him in his... See more