Cambridge talk claims early male writers introduced idea real beauty is within to control how women dressed
Some called the women who put on makeup and dyed their hair, deceptive and artificial. Others said women who wore jewels and fine clothes could not be trusted, even by their husbands. But they all agreed: if a man ever encountered one of these unchristian women, and wanted to rape her, it was her fault – not his.
According to a talk at the University of Cambridge, it was in the third-century that the Christian idea that “real” beauty is within was first used by influential male writers to try to control how women dressed.
