The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls by Joan Jacobs Brumberg  (45)  $10.17

Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty by Nancy Etcoff  (74)  $10.17

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan  (52)  $10.85

The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf  (157)  $11.16

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy  (98)  $11.20

› Explore similar items : Books (50)

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.

From Publishers Weekly
Wolf's valuable study, documenting societal pressures on women to conform to a standard of beauty, hit PW 's hardcover bestseller list for one week.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

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. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
beauty backlash, beauty pornography, weight cult, professional beauty qualification, medical coercion, display professions, beauty index, beauty myth, beauty thinking, eating diseases, patient pool, modem women, vital lie, iron maiden Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Surgical Age, Great Britain, United Kingdom, Elizabeth Arden, Third World, Betty Friedan, Estée Lauder, Roberta Pollack Seid, Rosalind Miles, World War, First World, Age of Surgery, Christine Craft, Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinem, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Miss America, One Stone Solution, Robert Jay Lifton, San Francisco, Susie Orbach, Thomas Rees, Virginia Woolf, Willa Appel New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Search Inside This Book: