When I was about fourteen, I needed glasses. On top of being nearsighted, I also have astigmatism, which means that my cornea is irregularly shaped, so my retina does not perceive light correctly and my eyes have their own special kind of a blur. This contributes to my nearsightedness so long story short, I am nearsighted because I have astigmatism, and I have astigmatism because I am nearsighted. *
I can still see without my glasses, it just results in a throbbing headache. Much like many things about my life, my (lack of) sight is just another inconvenience that is exacerbated by my own stubbornness.
(*and because I did not wear the glasses my eye doctor prescribed for over a year because of reasons this article will discuss. Astigmatism and nearsightedness do often go hand-in-hand, but you do not necessarily need one to have the other.)
Why did I not wear my glasses? Because I had internalized a message that media place upon women (and men, which is a completely different article) through typical romantic comedy tropes. Which is:
Girls with Glasses Are the ‘Before’ In a Cinderella Transformation
In most romantic comedies (Rom/Coms), the transformation of “Ugly, Awkward, and Nerdy One-Of-the-Guys with No Fashion Sense Or Make-Up Skill” kind of girl to the “Drop-Dead-Gorgeous Love Interest Who Was Actually Really Attractive the Whole Time But Just Needed Some Help” is essential. Don’t get me wrong, I loved both Princess Diaries movies, but Anne Hathaway’s character, Mia, has a transformation scene that is the epitome of this trope and it is easily the most iconic example.
After Mia finds out that she is a princess by blood, she is given a makeover from her invisible, unattractive, bespectacled, and curly-haired self to a “prettier”, straight-haired girl with contacts. Euro-centric beauty standards even did a number for a white woman. Only after this makeover did Josh (or as I know him) off-brand-Ken-doll-meets-Nick-Carter whom Mia had a crush on notice her. I do not have Mia’s curly hair, but I do have wavy hair that becomes atrociously frizzy when brushed (I did not figure out my hair type until only roughly two years ago) so at the time in my life when I watched these movies for the first time, I still brushed my hair.
Through that scene, I realized that I looked like "before" Mia and internalized that glasses were not what attractive women wore, they were what hid attractive women.
This is sickening, and Princess Diaries is not even the only movie that features this trope. (Buzzfeed has already pounced on that listicle, here is the link.
This is not the first time we are realizing this, either. Isaac Asimov wittily commented on this in the 1950s.
"No, the glasses are not literally glasses. They are merely a symbol, a symbol of intelligence. The audience is taught two things: (a) Evidence of extensive education is a social hindrance and causes unhappiness; (b) Formal education is unnecessary, can be minimized at will, and the resulting limited intellectual development leads to happiness."
Notice he did not specify if he was talking about men or women in that statement I quoted above. Even though I am talking about my experiences as a woman, it is crucial to be aware that both parties suffer from these tropes.
When I finally did wear glasses, I got a pair that I was later disappointed to find said "boys make passes at girls with glasses" on the part that rests on my ear. This is not the point either. The point is that people wear glasses because they cannot see but it is made into more than that. Stereotypes and societal preference for good-looks over intelligence have no place in my life anyway, let alone with the fact that only one of my eyes meets the legal requirement that allows for driving without aided vision. Attractiveness and intelligence can and do coexist in real life, however shocking it may seem.
Ladies and gents, wear glasses for whatever reason you want to. Wear them for how they make you feel, wear them because they match your outfit, wear them simply because you cannot see and hate contacts (that's me). Intelligence is wonderful and it comes in many forms. It does not need to be called attractive to be validated, it does not even need to be validated in the first place. Proudly wear your glasses, if you want to regardless of what anyone says.
("So, yes, they let women do some things at NASA, Mr. Johnson. And it's not because we wear skirts. It's because we wear glasses...")
And always remember lines like this from queens like Taraji P. Hensen when somebody looks down their nose at your spectacles.
