The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women | 
|  | | | Title: | The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women | | Author: | Naomi Wolf | | Publisher: | Harper Perennial | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 01 October, 2002 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0060512180 / 9780060512187 | | List Price: | $14.95 | | You Save: | $4.78 | | Amazon Price: | $10.17 | |
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Product Description
The bestselling classic that redefined our view od the relationship between beauty and female identity. In today's world, women have more power, legal recognition, and professional success than ever before. Alongside the evident progress of the women's movement, however, writer and journalist Naomi Wolf is troubled by a different kind of social control, which, she argues, may prove just as restrictive as the traditional image of homemaker and wife. It's the beauty myth, an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society's impossible definition of "the flawless beauty."
Amazon.com
In a country where the average woman is 5-foot-4 and weighs 140 pounds, movies, advertisements, and MTV saturate our lives with unrealistic images of beauty. The tall, nearly emaciated mannequins that push the latest miracle cosmetic make even the most confident woman question her appearance. Feminist Naomi Wolf argues that women's insecurities are heightened by these images, then exploited by the diet, cosmetic, and plastic surgery industries. Every day new products are introduced to "correct" inherently female "flaws," drawing women into an obsessive and hopeless cycle built around the attempt to reach an impossible standard of beauty. Wolf rejects the standard and embraces the naturally distinct beauty of all women.
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Customer Reviews:
• The Third Wave 28 April, 2008
Naomi Wolf does an expert job defining her point of view of what is going on during the third wave of feminism. This is a good book to contrast the other historical feminist periods. However, the reader needs to keep an open mind about her point of view.
Good reference book to own.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A23VYN7ETM1LPW
• A Very Important Book 30 May, 2008
The Beauty Myth is a must have for every woman in the world and the men who love them. Naomi Wolf hit the nail on the head about the isolating effect the beauty myth has on women, ie: women viewing each other with suspicion, women enacting painful, masochistic rituals to be "thin enough", "young-looking enough" and "pretty enough", while blinding women to the larger reality of the world like workplace inequality, economic inequality, lack of political power and the lack of intellectual freedom. How can they pay attention when all they can think about are their physical "flaws"? Except that's exactly where the powers of the society wants them - beaten down, fearful of oneself and each other and generally viewing oneself of low self worth. When you feel like that, you are no threat to the oppressive forces in society. In short, I completely agree with Naomi that the beauty myth has served as a distraction for women to keep them from realizing their full potential. Make sure that your teenage daughter has a copy of this book! It will be the most rebellious and courageous thing she's ever done - to face up to the ugly realities that are stacked against her. To dare to be different than pop culture's dictates.
As for men, this book can illuminate to them how women think. If any man has ever wondered "what was she thinking?" or "why can't she be happy with her weight/hair/thighs, etc..." this book is for you. Especially if you find yourself unable to reach her and help her through her self-imposed exile and depression. While it's not a magic bullet to break through that prison, it helps if you speak the language.
Another strength of her book is the historical approach to attitudes of sexism. They are so deeply ingrained that many readers will be shocked to find out that these attitudes aren't "moral or "natural" but rather, are leftover wrong thinking from earlier days. For example, the idea that women must suffer simply for being female (ie: able to have babies) is an ancient poison. No doubt, we are seeing this play out as anti-choicers bomb clinics, take to the courts and other tools at their disposal to make sure that women go back to being unable to choose when they want to have a baby, because suffering is the female way. Which comes from their desire to punish women for enjoying sex, which is another ancient, ingrained attitude. When viewed in historical context, their attitudes don't seem so holy. (They never were) Merely unexamined prejudices. (Which unfortunately, affects people other than themselves.)
The only criticism of this book that I have is that I wish the book made more of an effort to distinguish between deliberate malice against women versus impersonal indifference. At times, this book makes it seem like every injustice against women is a result of conspiracy by the powers that be. But more likely, they are the result of indifference and unawareness. Sure, the end result is the same - women feeling down-trodden and sapped of all sense of power and agency, but it helps to clarify which problems can be solved with more awareness and education, and which problems can be better solved with passionate protests and political solutions that right these injustices.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3J48ZOK6PI29K
• What Makes It A Myth? 04 November, 2007
I bought this book to further explore the idea of the "beauty myth". Though the book is informative, it is very one sided. I even agree with most of the stuff, but i feel it needs to be backed up with information and facts that may dispute the authors point of view. It would of been more interesting if not so one-sided. The way the information is presented, and all the research that had been done, it doesn't appear to be a myth at all. So i read another book that contains both sides of the story, and the fact of the matter is women very much participate in the ideals of our own beauty, if not presently working in the business finding it as a "creative" outlet. The book is very informative, if you are to read it for a book report, but not very captivating.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1ETGU2AWELA2R
• Interesting And Well Researched 22 November, 2007
I'm not an expert in feminist literature and don't have any strong opinions on the subject. I found this to be a very interesting read, though quite a bit of it bordered on the unpleasant and the disturbing--rape, violence, surgical violation of the body. It also treads the line between the scholarly and the general interest book, although it's probably much closer to the latter. Very well written, it felt a bit tragic, poetic, philosophical, and almost Freudian in style. A general criticism: could it be that some women seek to beautify themselves, even in an extreme manner, somewhat independent of modern societal, or patriarchical, influences? An evolutionary biologist might argue that some if not most women might have an emphasis on beauty that is hardwired into their brains, and we are simply observing a manifestation of that inherent nature in the modern environment. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3QFUK8BCO9IMO
• I'm Sorry, I Just Don't Think This Book 12 May, 2008
is good. She's privilegded by the same beauty standards she decry so much in her debut book. Beauty standards are fluid, never rigid, as she thinks they are. Her book fails to acknowledge that fact. Women, not men, control the beauty industry. Estee Lauder comes to mind. Women are individuals who choose their own images. Also, this book ignores women of Color, whose beauty standards are different from her own.
I say read this book with caution.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2VVOAR8QQIAVS
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