The beauty myth : how images of beauty are used against women

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."

First sentence: When The Beauty Myth was first published, more than ten years ago, I had the chance to hear what must have been thousands of stories.

Year

1991

Language

English

Publisher

Harper Perennial

Editions

24

Reader rating

3.8 / 5 (19)

Pages

368

ISBN

9780060512187

Data source: Wikidata