2 ms·

Both of those links engender the proposition that fingernail length is indeed NOT a good indicator of class. The class status of women as a whole rose signific

• Mz 17y ago
  It is not as simple as that. Women going to work in large numbers means they stopped being part of a "leisure class". A non-working wife is a status symbol. It means the man makes enough that his wife doesn't need to work. Nothing is sweepingly one thing or the other. But, in general, long fingernails have historically been a status symbol/class indicator -- long, clean, well-groomed and often decorated (painted, treated with henna, etc), not long and filthy. Long fingernails are also a fairly strong "sex" symbol. One prostitute wrote in her biography that she could work at the mall by wearing very high heels and long, red fingernails. I will also add that long nails are an indicator of health (trying not to turn every discussion towards my medical condition, but my genetic disorder is how I know this one so well) -- and that tends to be linked to class in that wealthier classes tend to be better fed.