Beauty Bound [Hardcover]

Rita Freedman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Most women take for granted that part of being female is looking the part, seldom questioning the social conditioning and sexist role-modeling this bespeaks. The props and paint, the shaping up, the obsession with youth are, the author writes, part of a social myth of female beauty which serves to keep women in their place as "the fair sex," powerless, weak and properly submissive. Stiletto heels, incessant dieting and elaborate cosmetic rituals are no different from such cultural keep-her-in-her-place dictums as Chinese foot-binding or veiling the female form in Arab countries, observes Freedman, a New York psychologist. Designed to appeal to men's, not women's, taste, the prescriptions for female beauty mean that most women "put on their face" in the morning, dislike some part of their bodies, perhaps even resort to cosmetic surgery. Freedman discusses her subject in a low-key, convincing way that provides excellent historical background on the ways concepts of beauty have shaped women's sense of self. Major ad/promo. November
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall & IBD (September 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0669111414
• ISBN-13: 978-0669111415
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,329,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly researched and interesting, July 20, 2010

By 

Maribel (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beauty Bound (Paperback)

Timely and thoroughly researched, with enough historical data and information to keep the reader interested in the focus of the work. Very well-written and provides the reader with a full examination of the women's movement and cultural/socio-economic and political obstacles and challenges facing women of every walk of life. Even if you're not a big feminist, you'll enjoy the approachability of this book and how it frames issues facing modern women as they try to balance the realities of aging in a looks based society. Many readers, particularly women, will enjoy the writer's approach to the subject matter as it relates to a growing population of older and, thus, disenfranchised women seeking a sense of community in a society that places value on youth culture, even as it denies the inevitable fate we all face-aging and death. This book handles those intractable facts of life with a dignified intellectual honesty.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, November 7, 2004

By 

Rachael Wade "Rach-O" (Burlington, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty Bound (Paperback)

The book, Beauty Bound, written by Rita Freedman is a novel that will not only raise your self esteem, but also help to see life from another point of view. A lot of people can relate to this book because it deals with the number one issue in woman's lives. This issue is the constant obsession with trying to be beautiful and perfect.

Beauty Bound gives a variety of real life stores from real women who have had problems with themselves. If you were a woman reading this book, it could really help you get over trying to be beautiful and trying to impress others and make you feel like you're not the only one. It will help you to realize that all the material things and looking like models isn't the only thing that matters in life.

This book shows you the reality of all the beautiful woman on TV and in magazines. They aren't as perfect in the pictures and movies as they are in real life. The book makes you realize how dumb it is to care what others think of you when all you really should be doing is caring how you feel about your self.

The majority of all women have once in their life faced the issue of wanting to be beautiful. Whether you think you have or not, believe me, you have. The question is why? Why do women everyday spend hours upon hours putting on make up and doing there hair? To impress people that they don't even know? To impress people that they do know and who already love them for who they are? The answers to these questions are in this book.