I saw a video the other day about women who were bullied by other girls in school. The top comment was "the girls who bullied me all have money to maintain their beauty and status and are doing well." (In response to a bunch of comments saying, karma will get them though etc)
I think the women watching this video were quite young (I hope). It saddened me to see the implicit assumption -that a woman's social status depends on how beautiful she is- be supported by so many women. Especially because they largely meant performing femininity, hair, make up, skincare, tanning and so on.
Looking hot can get you a lot of followers on Instagram and a boyfriend that cares about that, and I think that's what they meant, but I would hope it isn't the ultimate marker of status for women.
I say this as someone who used to do all the femininity stuff, spend money on having great hair and the best clothes and having cute nails. Men and women do treat you well but in a superficial way- I'll be nice to you because you look good and I want people to think we are friends. I didn't feel as if I had influence or if my opinions held more weight with others.
What do you think are the markers of status in women? Is it even something worth caring about?
Mehh there's no way to really know if those girls are "doing well".