Stars Without Makeup
By all accounts, I was a very beautiful woman in my youth. I am unable to readily find the discussion, but I once talked about my no dating policy on an overwhelmingly male forum and my opinion that dating is far too often a polite form of prostitution. Someone said something like "You have strange ideas about dating." acting like I was neurotic and someone else replied to that with something like "Have you seen her profile picture? It's linked (here)." suggesting that I was very beautiful and perhaps that shaped my negative views of dating. The photo in question was taken of me without makeup while I was homeless. I was in my late forties. I didn't think it was a particularly good photo. It was more like a candid photo taken with a cheap phone. I was surprised to hear someone use that photo as evidence that perhaps my great beauty made my weirdo opinions understandable. Whatever I actually looked like, I never felt I measured up to cultural expectations o...