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

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

By: Naomi Wolf  

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Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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."

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Release Date: 2002-09-24

Customer Review: 1 out of 5
Poorly written, flawed arguments, very outdated. - I understand if this book was groundbreaking and controversial when it was first published in 1990, and I respect it for bringing these issues to a forefront and empowering women during a particularly tough time, but the book does not age well.

In general, Wolf's arguments and justifications are extremely flawed, and her deductions are illogical. From a modern feminist perspective, she makes statements and generalizations about men and women (even as she tries to debunk other generalizations and myths) that aren't exactly progressive or feminist.

This book does not hold up to the test of time, and even then it has serious flaws.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
A definite must read. - I have long been a fan of Naomi Wolf. She's very intelligent and insightful and her works have proven that she is a great observer of women's issues, espcially in this book, The Beauty Myth. I think my mouth dropped to the floor a gazillion times when reading this. All the information is spot-on and all women should read this one. I can't recommend it enough. I also recommend Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
'Abridged' not indicated - The audio book was not correctly described as 'abridged'. If I had known I would not have purchased the audio cassettes. However, Naomi Wolf is dead on.

Customer Review: 2 out of 5
Ugly People of the world unite!: (Don't hate the player, hate the game) - This book jumps smack dab into the middle of a two-century old conversation about the role of beauty in Western culture. However, it is the view of this reader that by ignoring the way in which societies go about constructing its categories of meaning, including that of beauty, this treatise comes off as sterile, superficial, parochial, arrogant and passively racist. It makes a few general statements in the introduction that appear to defend historically parochial middle class white feminist interests, but still is absent any serious analysis of the broader issues that underlie the concept itself. In an analysis of this sort, it is very much insufficient to merely point the finger at a "male dominated society" as being the culprit. This is a much more complex problem than that.

As a relatively aware male still trying to overcome his deeply ingrained sexist ways, I have no personal axe to grind here, I bought the book seeking to be further enlightened, but in the interest of thoroughness, it must be said that this tract ignores all that is most important about the background to the historical conversation itself: that most western white women base the whole of their self esteem on a foundation of the twin towers of beauty and race. These two concepts are not just "throw-a-way" categories, or terms to be batted about like so much social confetti, or as is done here, tucked away in the subtext as if they do not exist. They must be treated openly and seriously with the proper degree of rigor as key variables in any analysis of western and American social processes.

In point of fact, it must be said that it is incontrovertible that race and beauty go hand-and-hand and get to the very heart of what white womanhood means in western culture. And since the standard of beauty for all women is assumed to be the universal -- "white womanhood"-- the issue of race cannot be slyly confounded in the generic term "woman." Any serious reader clearly "over-understands" that in this context, the generic term "woman" actually means "white woman" only. The larger point being, that without the two concepts of race and beauty being properly analyzed, one cannot reasonably answer the question: what meaning does "being a white woman in Western culture really have anyway?

"Well, of course this author has fixed this hole in her "non-analysis" by jumping over it entirely: restricting her concerns to "accomplished middle class (white) women." But it is all but self-evident that the modifier "accomplished" lies on the same logical and social plane as the term "beauty" itself. Should we not do a further analysis on the "myth of accomplished white women?" Indeed, what does the term "accomplished" mean in this context? Is it supposed to be self-evident and beauty is not? Once those questions are answered: What then for instance do we do with "poor," "unaccomplished," "ugly," "non-white, "lesbian" women, in this analysis? Surely we are not to just leave them out altogether? Or worse, (as has been done here and which is the only other alternative) hide them passively under the generic rubric of "woman?" That may be a clever way to dispatch the problem, but it cannot be taken as serious analysis.

Put simply, the historical and structural aspects of the "beauty myth" along with "being white" are the twin towers of a societal hierarchy that controls much of Western society's behavior, and this holds true for both genders. Given that this is indeed the case, what then is the justification for concentrating only on one narrow aspect of this phenomenon: aggrieved accomplished middle class white women? This sounds more like an analysis of an entitlement than a serious analysis of a demanding sociological problem?

Equally, I am sure that the author realizes that "The Beauty Myth," is just the flip side of "The Handsome Myth," and that together, along with the concept of "race," they constitute perhaps the most important and dominant societal aristocracies in western culture. Together they are used to shape, channel and pressure not just women, but both sexes into a dependence on meaningless values. Clearly, the beauty myth constitutes a two-sided hierarchy, which work its magic and its poison on both sides of the gender divide. Handsome men benefit and suffer the same tyranny of the beauty myth almost as much as women do. So why not include that in aspect in the analysis too?

But in a larger (less rhetorical) sense, the "beauty myth" and the "handsome myth" are trivial concerns because "assigning irrational meanings" to societal "constructs" and then raising them to the level of societal ideals is primarily what societies do: They develop psychological and societal "constructs" based on the deeper mostly irrational fears running in the undercurrents of society and then assigns meanings to them in ways that tend to objectify and control its members. Beauty is just one such concept. And it is neither the "best" nor the "worse" of them. In fact, since the author used only anecdotal data to support her thesis, one could argue that nearly as many women benefit from this aristocracy as are harmed by it. And without question, it is women, not men, who keep the meaning of beauty alive in western culture. I defy her to produce hard data refuting this claim.

In the end, the "beauty Myth" is like all societal games: everyone must play; no one gets a pass or the option to "opt out." Thus it reduces to just another case of "don't hate the players, hate the game."

What Ms. Wolf is asking, is for all women to ignore this powerful hierarchy upon which most of their self-worth is built and the prism through which most of Western social values are seen, channeled and tied to. Does that mean we have a shallow culture? Of course it does. Women want to be beautiful just as men want to be handsome because there is survival value in being perceived as such. It is no different than the aristocracy of race: Whiteness has value that blackness does not have. And while it is certainly the case that women suffer from discrimination due to beauty, many also benefit from it, and do so purposefully and strategically, the same as men do.

Ugly People of the world unite! Two stars

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Truer today than when it was written - What makes this book so important is that it is just as, if not more, relevant today than it was in 1991. Women continue to be judged more by our appearances than actions, and while there do seem to be a few examples of progress (like Queen Latifah showing that beauty comes in many sizes and everyone loving Ellen DeGeneres' show despite her non-model appearance), these are exceptions that prove the rule. Models are slimmer than ever, anorexia is considered normal, and women continue to lose the battle for self-esteem.

While the average reader may consider the writing to be a bit dry, Wolf presents one intellectually sound point after another. She even inserts a few personal memories which help the reader to identify with her as a person in addition to an accomplished thinker and writer. In addition, the pages and pages of notes prove that her statistics and arguments are based on intense research and not, as critics may suggest, merely whining. I would consider this to be essential "personal is political" reading for any person, of any gender, with a social conscience.

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