A few years ago I wrote a paper about Germania by Tacitus, considered to be one of the first ethnographies. My professor was getting his phd in German history, so he was thrilled.
In writing this, Tacitus set up German women as ideal, (idealizing the native, actually) with their blonde hair and strong, buxom bodies. But also because they were monogamous and loyal to their families and husbands in ways he did not think Roman women were. At the same time he denigrated German men as filthy, drunken louts who did nothing but fight.
By doing this Tacitus made several things possible.
1) He set up German women as oppressed creatures who should be “rescued” from their horrible husbands, there by legitimizing rape as noble. Better to be fucked by a Roman soldier than a dirty German.
2)He set up German men as “other” (I know it’s weird for us to think of white people as “other” but it was the Roman empire). This made them less than human and justified war.
3) He put fear into the hearts of Roman wives. They were not buxom blondes, and monogamy was not often practiced in Rome. By creating an ideal such as this, Roman wives would have to submit to
I work really hard at examining my likes and dislikes for negative social conditioning. I want to like what I like because I like it, and not because I feel like I should like it. I want to do what I do because I want to do it, not because I think society will keep me down if I go my own way.
I had this conversation with my brother a few months ago. He was newly single and we were talking about girls. He has a friend who I think is just lovely and sweet and Bro thinks she is just friend material. That’s fine, if he had phrased it as “she’s just not my type”. But he didn’t. He said “She’s just not hot, and I only like hot girls”. His definition (which he firmly believes is the only definition) of hot is tall, thin, big boobs, red hair and completely shaved.
If that were the only definition of hot- I would never have a date. The only thing I have on that list is the boobs. But Bro