At 10:24 AM 9/7/97 -0500, you wrote:
>On Sun, 7 Sep 1997, Moira wrote:
>> But why do you distrust contact lenses? Is it the plastics?
>
>1.) The facism of beauty.  The cliche of the mousy little girl who becomes
>a bioling sexpot has done a bit to add a touch of the erotic to glass, but
>contact lenses are still part of the Tyrany of the Beautiful People.  I've
>never been able to understand the Warner Brother's cartoons where Bugs
>puts on a pair and saus "you wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?"
>My experience is that people have a hard time NOT hitting a guy with
>glasses.

Glasses and contact lenses are both tools.  I wear my glasses most of the
time; I wear my contact lenses when I ride the Harley and want to wear
motorcycle goggles or sunglasses -- wearing glasses while riding is painful
and annoying.
And frankly, being able to turn into a Beautiful Person at will (and turn
it off at will) is rather funny.  It's a tool to be used.  Also makes
stupid men fall all over themselves, which is amusing.

I think I look better with my glasses, actually, and find that people treat
me with more respect when I wear them.  (Believe me, it's no picnic being a
blue-eyed blonde with an IQ over 140 and having to listen to dumb blonde
jokes from people who I could run circles around, intellectually speaking.)
 So glasses are as much a tool as contacts.
Every type of clothing or personal ornamentation can be considered a tool
of some kind; dressing in business attire conveys the message that you're
serious about business (a friend of mine calls her work clothes 'business
drag'), whereas wearing jeans and a t-shirt conveys another message,
usually that you are more concerned with comfort than status.  Think about
it.

Contacts are, in some ways, an invisible tool; for all you know, someone
wearing contacts could equally well have perfect eyesight.  Glasses are a
more obvious social symbol, and can convey the message 'I'm intelligent,'
'I'm trustworthy,' or 'I'm sexy' (if they're particularly stylish, like
Ray-Bans).  Kevin, my hubby, recently went out to find glasses frames that
look as close as possible to the ones he saw Eric Clapton wearing on an MTV
video clip.  And can you think of a more famous pair of glasses than the
ones John Lennon wore?  And the 'attitude glasses' with non-prescription
lenses one can get in the mall show that glasses, like other items of
attire, are social symbols.

>2.) Masochism is painful.  I've never been able to understand how people
>put those things on their EYES.  Every instinct and reflex realed against
>it when I tried.

You might have dry eyes.
If you don't want to wear them, then don't!

>3.) The facism of beauty (again).  80% of the human population has
>brown eyes.  Those who would sell color contacts want you to believe that
>brown in a boring, ugly color
>
>Devil's Dictionary-
>Nerd: Someone who dresses for comfort and not for style.

Not necessarily.  They sell brown contacts too; and I had a teacher who had
hazel eyes who wore brown contacts.
And have you seen that Nerd Chic stuff thats in style right now?  I may be
the alpha geek in my office, but even I wouldn't wear that stuff!  How
bizarre to have the 'in crowd' dressing ugly...

Corbie
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http://www.radix.net/~lindo
I am *NOT* a rabid feminist!  I had my shots last year.