Sally's Internalization In Nothing To Wear

Sally is another product of the American society; she has been molded into what society thinks a woman should be. However unlike Gloria and Julie, Sally had a job so she could pay for the household expenses and provide for her mom and herself. Sally is a product of the American society, just in a different way than Gloria and Julie because Sally did not have a man and had to get a job to take care of her mom and herself. Sally's internalization of what it means to be a woman is how she looks. Sally is from the comic "Nothing to Wear". In the comic Sally is a working woman who finds a guy named Neil and they start dating. Things had been going well between them until he asks her to attend a formal dance with him. The problem is she cannot afford …show more content…
This embarrassment stems from the fact she cannot fit the expected body image based on clothing because she is too poor to afford the trendy new dresses. Not only does Sally have self-hatred pertaining to looks but also because she is poor and cannot afford the dress. Sally is ashamed that she cannot afford a new dress to impress Neil's friends and because of this, she thinks she does not deserve to go. Her reaction to not being able to afford the dress signifies her internalization of being poor. She internalizes that because she is poor and cannot afford a new dress, she is unworthy and underserving of going to the dance. This is because she internalizes that being a woman is dressing to impress and not embarrass. Another reason why Sally has self-hatred is because she does not like working and views it as unfeminine. Not only does Sally hate being a working woman but she is embarrassed by it because like her women "learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political rights-the independence and the opportunities that the old-fashioned feminists fought for" (Friedan, 16). Sally thinks being a working woman is embarrassing and unfeminine because she internalized that working is unfeminine and by being a working woman she is not truly feminine. I want Sally to understand that there is more to being a woman than looks and money. Also, she should keep her job and turn it into a career after she marries Neil because women of all economic levels suffer from the unnamed problem. This problem "persists in women whose husbands are struggling interns and law clerks, or prosperous doctors and lawyers; in wives of workers and executives who make $5,000 a year or $50,000." Money does not help or stop women from being affected from this problem that is invading the American housewives' happiness. This problem cannot be solved by money, "and women