The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women

The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women - Naomi Wolf Overall I like this book and found it thought provoking. The standard of beauty promoted in the west is invariably young, dangerously thin and pretty much unattainable by all but a very few. The images of what is judged to be beautiful are pervasive and these can be damaging. These images also tend to create adversarial roles for women and put a wall between the generations. Calling women ugly or mannish is used in pretty much any instance where women are trying to get equal treatment outside the domestic sphere. The concept of beauty or lack of it is used frequently as a weapon against women's progress. The author did a very good job of laying out those ideas.

Where the author loses me is the conspiratorial tone she takes for the beauty myth. Cosmetics companies aren't just reacting to market pressures to sell by using more and more sexualized images, they're part of a plan to keep women oppressed.