“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover”: My Biggest Pet Peeve

The first 5 minutes in a bookstore, I always spend it speeding through the fiction shelf. From Adichie to Vonnegut, I breeze through each row of books, with the occasional stop to glance at the staff picks. Before I know it, I’m doubling back with the same easiness, noticing different titles, colors and sizes. But this time, each book I glance over seems to say, “Jason, Jason! Stop and look at me! I’m interesting, I swear!” Ahhhh fuck.

Eventually like always, I find a book to take home, but it first involves slowing down, reading synopses and feeling guilt along the way.

In life, we are taught to never judge a book by its cover. We’re not supposed to judge people’s character by the way they look or shy away from trying fruit that smells like shit. Following this wisdom, I have befriended an obnoxiously-pink, asian girl, learned to love durian with all my heart, and life has never been any better.

Yet, no matter how many times this saying has improved my life, I still really hate it. I hate it because it’s so wrong and stupid. I don’t disagree with the message — don’t prejudge the value of something based on appearances — but I don’t like how it’s using a metaphor that dismisses the power of visual expression. Covers can say a lot! At the core of this notion stands a very old and mistaken belief that appearances are incapable of being intellectual. The more beautiful an appearance is, the more superficial, immoral and dumb it becomes.

Ironically, this view is superficial in itself and it stems from generations of sexism. In fact John Berger, in his essay Ways of Seeing, explains that the cultural presence of men is different from that of women. Men are judged by their actions, while women are judged by their looks. He credits this perception to the idea that historically, men go out to work, while women stay at home to serve. As women are excluded from many of society’s responsibilities, it makes sense then, without much opportunity for function, women are left with just form.

That form becomes manipulated by a standard of Beauty, which has disciplined the way that women are viewed. The male gaze defines and uses that standard to objectify, categorize and legitimize the representation of women. They have to act a certain way, talk a certain way and be a certain way. As a result, women become conditioned to survey her self-image and self-value in relation to her own eyes, other people’s eyes, and ultimately men’s eyes.

While women have made progress past the glass ceiling, their identities are still largely confined to their appearances even to this day. It explains why men are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on proven performance, what they have shown others they are capable of.

People cat-call and judge women for wearing make up or dressing a certain way because they believe a woman’s appearance is an indication of what can or cannot be done to her, never by her. It is the height of irony that women are valued for their looks, encouraged to make themselves beautiful and are then derided as shallow and vain for doing so. At the end of the day, I think Beauty gets treated as trivial because women get treated as trivial.

And that’s why I hate this stupid saying so much, because beauty is NOT trivial. While the saying’s intention is good as it warns against judging quality just based on appearances, it discounts women and visual design. There is nothing wrong with caring about appearances — in fact, it does matter. And yet there are always some who say things like, “I want to be judged on who I am, not on the clothes I wear.” It’s like saying, “I want to be judged on who I am, not on the words that come out of my mouth.”

While clothes and book covers aren’t exactly languages in the Chomyskan sense, they are part of a system of visual communication that will convey meaning to others. A fanny pack at a rave will mean something different than a fanny pack on vacation. A book cover with a picture of unicorns will signal something different than a cover with a picture of rural Mississippi. Just as what you wear can be an indication of who you are, the book cover is a canvas for the designer to help communicate what the book is about.

Elements such as colors, typography, and layout are the building blocks to the visual language as grammar and syntax are to our language. We combine them in different ways to enhance the meaning of a statement.

If used well, the power of visual design has a lot of influence over our lives. From TV ads to posters you see on the streets, they motivate our actions. These things can make you watch a new movie, vote for a certain person and even believe that a model’s body is the ideal size.

Anyway, if you don’t personally care about fashion or visual design, that’s fine. However, I do think people should be aware that what they wear communicates something to other people — something about who they are and how they feel about the world and their place in it — and I think many people would be better off if they made that communication intentionally. But again, we all don’t have to care about the same forms of communication. If what you want to say about yourself through your clothing is, “I wear clothes so I won’t be naked,” that is entirely your prerogative, and none of my business.

But if you think other people — especially other women — who do care about fashion and style are shallow, trivial, or vain for doing so? If you assume a woman is dressing for your attention or approval? Or if you dismiss the value and power of visual design? That is my business. I’m going to ask you to question that. And I’m going to ask you to question the sexist assumptions that lie behind it.

And for those who are afraid of Beauty and its implications, don’t be. Wearing fashion doesn’t mean it has to wear you down. Especially for women though: remember that behind every institution is a way to subvert its rules and to establish your own agency. Subscribe to your own definition of beauty and be the most beautiful you.

Being well-versed in the visual language can not only help us be in dialogue with so many other things in life, but it can also prevent us from being influenced in negative ways. Ultimately, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is an outdated saying and it perpetuates a sexist notion that undermines the visual language.

While the saying isn’t completely wrong, an alternative that has helped me a lot is to reframe the way I see the world. We should strive to make fewer assumptions and to check our own biases and prejudice. Instead of constantly evaluating and judging others, we should look inward and remind ourselves to never take anything at face value.