If women don't want to be primarily associated with their looks...

I'm not saying societal norms are irrational - I'm denying their existence entirely.

That was my point. Hence why I suggested rubbing someone's face as a form of greeting and seeing how they react.

I would not do this because the purpose of a greeting is usually to put some at ease around you. Rubbing their face would not serve this purpose.

Indeed, because the socially accepted greeting is to say hello/shake their hand/ hug them/all of the above. There's no rational reason that rubbing someone's face is weird while squeezing them between your arms is friendly.

What the hell are you talking about?

I'm saying that there's no rational reason we do certain things, but think others are weird. We have a set of social norms upon which our society is built. For example, the previous homosexuality example - most people used to think it was horrible, now most people don't really care. That's a less abstract example of a social norm.

But in the case of how we greet people - if it's not causing any issues but you think it's somehow bad just because it's a "societal norm" then you're just looking for problems that aren't even there.

The way you think doesn't even make sense to be honest. Although I can't say I'm surprised. People who say things like "societal norm" or "social construct" are usually morons.

I never said it was bad. I said it proved the existence of social norms.

...then why is every comment on a girl's profile picture from their girl friends about how 'gorgeous' or 'sexy' they are? It seems to be an almost compulsory practice, as if a girl's self esteem will suffer if their profile picture receives less than an expected number of these comments (and likes of course). I've even been asked by a girl to 'like' their photo or write an admiring comment on an occasion

It seems to me that girls themselves are largely to blame for this inextricable association between a girl's self worth and their looks. Maybe girls should stop attributing these kinds of problems to some abstract notion of 'patriarchy' and instead take a good long look at how they treat each other.

You realise that even if women are the main source of pressure to look good, that doesn't mean it isn't patriarchy? Have you actually read about the concept of 'patriarchy' or do you just consider it to be 'men cause all the wrong in the world'? Because patriarchy is a socially enforced (by both genders) set of social norms which are designed to protect the interests of a select few powerful men. Patriarchy as most feminists use the term comes from both men and women, and hurts both men and women. I'm not a huge fan of the term, mainly for the reason that it doesn't sound like what it describes.

Furthermore, I suspect that the women who complain about the patriarchy and the women who upload a million selfies to social media are not normally the same people.

Exactly, just the same as "feminism" - which is about gender equality. Call patriarchy power and feminism equality. Then men and women will be able to come together in empathy and solidarity.

This is because in Hollywood appearance is of greater importance to some people but this is not always the case with women who aren't actresses and other similar careers. The majority of people I know will compliment personality over looks when you talk to them in person.

Why are these saccharin comments made so incessantly at all? I don't see them on guy's photos. Maybe that's one of the reasons why we don't grow up so preoccupied with our looks.

You don't grow up 'pre-occupied' with your looks because throughout your entire journey into adulthood, you've been presented with images of physically unattractive men who have still been hailed as geniuses, visionaries, revolutionaries, successes in every field of life without a single soul mentioning their looks to undermine their achievements. Contrast this with the Angela Merkels or Hilary Clintons of the world who can lead superpowers and yet are still described as 'frumpy' and 'haggard' in MAINSTREAM media.

Funnily enough, I seem to remember Nick Clegg being such a hit in the 2010 general election because he was perceived as more handsome than the Cameron and Brown.

The media pressure is on both genders to aspire to a certain standard of appearance; but you'll find far more women perpetuating it amongst themselves than men.

...then why is every comment on a girl's profile picture from their girl friends about how 'gorgeous' or 'sexy' they are? It seems to be an almost compulsory practice, as if a girl's self esteem will suffer if their profile picture receives less than an expected number of these comments (and likes of course). I've even been asked by a girl to 'like' their photo or write an admiring comment on an occasion

It seems to me that girls themselves are largely to blame for this inextricable association between a girl's self worth and their looks. Maybe girls should stop attributing these kinds of problems to some abstract notion of 'patriarchy' and instead take a good long look at how they treat each other.