Loading...
10th out of 432 books
—
458 voters
My rating:
add to my books
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
by
Naomi Wolf (Goodreads Author)
The bestselling classic that redefined our view od the relationship between beauty and female identity.
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,
...morePaperback, 368 pages
Published
September 24th 2002
by Harper Perennial
(first published September 27th 1990)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
7,754)
Jesus, I FINALLY finished this book... UGH.
I feel like I have been extremely negative about the last few books I've reviewed, so it's a shame that this is the other one I have left to write up. Because those other books were the ones I was reading to avoid this one!
Naomi Wolf is exactly the reason I don't read much in the ways of feminist tracts. Blahblahblah male conspiracy blahblahblah. It's a shame because some of her points ARE valid and thought-provoking...
...more
I feel like I have been extremely negative about the last few books I've reviewed, so it's a shame that this is the other one I have left to write up. Because those other books were the ones I was reading to avoid this one!
Naomi Wolf is exactly the reason I don't read much in the ways of feminist tracts. Blahblahblah male conspiracy blahblahblah. It's a shame because some of her points ARE valid and thought-provoking...
...more
view 2 comments
I highly recommend it to everyone, not just women. I think is is really important for men to read books like this, too. It is all about how the A) Our modern ideals of beauty are mostly driven by the advertising industry and not intrinsic cultural or biological preferences, and B) How our modern ideals of beauty put women at a disadvantage to men.
I have a few disagreements with her, listed below, but I agree with her in general and it's a really good book to read, even if you are ...more
I have a few disagreements with her, listed below, but I agree with her in general and it's a really good book to read, even if you are ...more
Part of my problem thus far is the elusive notion of an intended audience. This book is pseudo-academic but not exactly handing itself over to everyone else. As for the "point" so far: standards of beauty ARE shifting, though treated as fixed in this West and in this way used as a kind of "objective" benchmark for judging women. However, this abstracted patriarchy often alluded to might just be a stand-in for capitalism itself (which Wolf suggests), which poses problems of ou...more
By the time I had read twenty pages of The Beauty Myth, I realized that this is one of the most important books I will ever read. Admittedly, I was initially skeptical of Wolf's central thesis-- that the cultural "myth" of feminine beauty is a political and economic weapon used by the male-dominated world to undermine women's advancement in society-- but, by the time I had finished reading the first chapter, I had a changed perspective of the world. This is a book, in my opinion, that ...more
A very popular book in the (relatively) modern feminism movement, I have mixed thoughts on this. It's a book I wanted to like but couldn't.
Wolf's basic premise is that "beauty" is an artifical concept that is used systematically to oppress women primarily for political purposes. The book is replete with figures, statistics, citations (a total of 268), and quotes, which are distributed throughout six sections or topics: work, culture, religion, sex, hunger, and violence. ...more
Wolf's basic premise is that "beauty" is an artifical concept that is used systematically to oppress women primarily for political purposes. The book is replete with figures, statistics, citations (a total of 268), and quotes, which are distributed throughout six sections or topics: work, culture, religion, sex, hunger, and violence. ...more
"So the beauty myth sets it up this way: A high rating as an art object is the most valuable tribute a woman can exact from her lover. If he appreciates her face and body because it is hers, that is next to worthless. It is very neat: The myth contrives to make women offend men by scrutinizing honest appreciation when they give it; it can make men offend women merely by giving them honest appreciation. It can manage to contaminate the sentence 'You're beautiful,' which is next to 'I love...more
This is the second time I've read this book in a two month time period. It's just full of huge ideas. Yes, the author has an agenda, and yes, she comes across a little harsh at times. However, the overall message of this book has changed the way I'll look at my body forever: Love your body because YOU are in it--not the other way around!
My belly fat and butt-fat-dimples don't scare me the way they used to. Fat is just a substance--one that our female bodies need to live, reprod...more
My belly fat and butt-fat-dimples don't scare me the way they used to. Fat is just a substance--one that our female bodies need to live, reprod...more
It's so melodramatic to say that every woman should read this book, but, well, every woman should read this book. Published in the early '90s, it definitely touches on points that have changed and evolved over the past 15 years, but the foundations of Wolf's argument are just as relevant today as they were then.
Wolf does get a bit preachy at times--I found myself skimming through sections where I felt a little like I was being beaten over the head with a point that had been adequate...more
Wolf does get a bit preachy at times--I found myself skimming through sections where I felt a little like I was being beaten over the head with a point that had been adequate...more
I've just recently re-read this book, and while the material is a bit dated, it's still an invaluable resource for women (and interested men) looking to explain the pervasiveness and power of images of beauty in our society. While many people will find Wolf too abrasive to go along with, I find very convincing her premise that beauty is a tool used by those in power to keep women focused on something unattainable in order to keep them from gaining true equality in our society. The strongest ch...more
Tess
is currently reading it
I'm on the fence about this one. First feminist manifesto I've read, and I can see why I've avoided them. It's dangerous to go black and white conspiracy theory when most of us are trailblazing through endless shades of gray. Being a little girl in the 70's, I do feel lucky that I had very few "images" imposed on me of what it meant to be a girl/woman. It made a big difference in forming my concept of myself. I don't pay any attention to women's magazines and find it hard to believe th...more
I consider myself to be an intelligent, successful woman. At the age of twenty-four I have a very good education, a meaningful job, the respect of my colleagues, the love of my friends and family and I'm engaged to be married to a man who loves and respects me inside and out. I know all of this, but as much as I tell myself that I want to be judged on these qualities alone, I can't help but want to be thought of as pretty too. I worry about my appearance - the length and colour of my hair, th...more
It's an in-depth scholarly work that is not an easy, but rather, a must-read for any person concerned with women's health, well-being and equality. Wolf taps a deep well of real-world examples - ranging from disturbing to horrifying - to lay out a clear-headed and damning argument against those who create and profit from ever-shifting and unattainable standards of beauty for women. She points out the heartbreaking truth: women in our society die twice, first when they lose their "beauty"...more
When it was published in 1991, this was an interesting book launching the idea that concepts of beauty hurt women in a variety of ways. Unfortunately, Wolf supports this notion with information she made up or exaggerated. For example, Wolf claims that 150,000 women die from anorexia every year. She does this with no citation or evidence to explain her claim. Because when those suffering from anorexia die, the immediate cause is more likely to be something like heart failure, exact numbers of dea...more
Having mixed feelings for feminist manifestos seems to be the theme for me lately.
As a 'feel good for yourself' read, The Beauty Myth definitely finds the mark. It points out why exactly women feel inadequate because their bodies are not good enough, and why that is not true. I was especially touched of her portrait of an aging woman, where the wrinkles and laugh lines aren't a stigma of shame, but, on the contrary, evidence of a full life. I think this is an important message any wo...more
As a 'feel good for yourself' read, The Beauty Myth definitely finds the mark. It points out why exactly women feel inadequate because their bodies are not good enough, and why that is not true. I was especially touched of her portrait of an aging woman, where the wrinkles and laugh lines aren't a stigma of shame, but, on the contrary, evidence of a full life. I think this is an important message any wo...more
By:Naomi Wolf Pages:291
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf is a story about kicking the stereotypes of beauty about women. The author describes the universal thoughts of beauty and how people dont seem to realize that beauty affects women in society. Whether its talking about make up or body or style, women are always judged by how they look. Wolf suggests that even though we might want to end all of this compairing and overly made up women, that we cannot because this has always been thi...more
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf is a story about kicking the stereotypes of beauty about women. The author describes the universal thoughts of beauty and how people dont seem to realize that beauty affects women in society. Whether its talking about make up or body or style, women are always judged by how they look. Wolf suggests that even though we might want to end all of this compairing and overly made up women, that we cannot because this has always been thi...more
God dammit, this is such an important argument, why can't it be better presented? Wolf clearly takes her cue from Betty Friedan, but Friedan's argument was devastating, fully exposing the manifestations of a myth in our culture. Meanwhile, Naomi Wolf writes a hopelessly sloppy and superficial analysis that falls into one of the great pits of the literature of social change: assumption of conspiracy and/or a myth functioning as a conscious organism instead of a complex assemblage of assumptions...more
I’m pretty excited about taking away something from every new feminist book I have read thus far; from this book I take away a new distaste for cosmetic surgery, among other things. This was a hefty book and a bit of a wade (there seemed to be a lot of repetition in the earlier chapters), but I enjoyed the information Wolf included. Broken down into sections, the ones I enjoyed best were Work (speaking about instances of dress code, sexual harassment and other ways that ‘beauty’ determine the wo...more
I'm afraid I skimmed this book. I found it monotonous, repeating similar things. I agreed with some, others I would like to discuss, even argue with. I was the target age when this book was published, but much that it mentioned was not my scene. I never worried too much about my weight for instance. I found an active lifestyle and good diet were enough to keep my weight normal. So I rarely thought about it and to this day I don't own a set of scales and my weight is still normal. I rarely wore m...more
From the reputation of The Beauty Myth, I expected to find it difficult to digest, but in fact it's an easy read. I suppose I simply forgot to take into account the presence of the usual anti-feminist messages in nearly everything we hear. Funny how we're expected to do that.
Wolf's thesis is that women are constantly bombarded with images of unnatural beauty. The resulting expectation that all women meet these standards in addition to doing whatever is necessary to carry out our j...more
Wolf's thesis is that women are constantly bombarded with images of unnatural beauty. The resulting expectation that all women meet these standards in addition to doing whatever is necessary to carry out our j...more
“The Beauty Myth” is well worth reading, for any man or woman. Although somewhat dated at this point, many of the arguments demonstrably still apply (and some are even more true today than they were in the early 1990's). It would be fascinating to read an updated version of this book, which could integrate the social changes brought on by the Internet, globalization, modern psychiatry, and the feminist Third Wave.
At its worst, “The Beauty Myth” sometimes feels like a lazily argued ...more
At its worst, “The Beauty Myth” sometimes feels like a lazily argued ...more
I have a hard time reading manifesto style books. I tend to find hyperbole for non-comedic purposes irritating. I'm just not very radical, I suppose. This book suffers too from being dated; some of the ideas are obviously still very relevant, but they've since been written about and reformulated in ways I find much more interesting, or at least less shrill. Wolf alternates between really piling on with the statistics and data, and writing melodramatic stories about her own life. Neither ton...more
I especially liked the chapter on sex. A lot of women I know and have known and likely will know certainly have issues with their own sexuality and thinking about it in terms of 'am I sexy to HIM' rather than what makes me feel sated or what makes ME feel sexy. We are a very image based society. But I have also seen a turn around where men are starting to obsess about being good enough too, however, they are nowhere near the overload of an IDEAL BODY we women have to suffer through. Now that I h...more
I read this book based on Gen Bjorn's 5-star review, and I really liked it.
EXCERPT:
---
"She's pretty, isn't she?" she says.
"She's okay," he says.
"Do you think I'm that pretty?" she says.
"You're great," he says.
"Should I cut my hair like that?" she says.
"I love you the way you are," he says.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks in a rage.
The culture has set...more
EXCERPT:
---
"She's pretty, isn't she?" she says.
"She's okay," he says.
"Do you think I'm that pretty?" she says.
"You're great," he says.
"Should I cut my hair like that?" she says.
"I love you the way you are," he says.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks in a rage.
The culture has set...more
I really like the ideas put forward in this book about the beauty industry and what drives it.
It is an extremely important book in modern (third wave) feminism, and therefore I think should be read by anyone who either considers themslef to have feminist views, or is interested in feminism.
In the book, she argues that "beauty" as a normative value is entirely socially constructed, and that we should therefore move outside of that.
EVen if, as I have...more
It is an extremely important book in modern (third wave) feminism, and therefore I think should be read by anyone who either considers themslef to have feminist views, or is interested in feminism.
In the book, she argues that "beauty" as a normative value is entirely socially constructed, and that we should therefore move outside of that.
EVen if, as I have...more
It's always a treat when authors enlighten you about things you've never given much thought to before, and when they connect that thing with another subject which, at first glance, seems to be many quanta away. I've thought about beauty before, but only in passing, and only in a very removed way, while trying to perusing though aesthetics. But while I never really got into that philosophical subject (probably because it seems so far removed from any sort of analysis that has anything to do with ...more
This book made some good points, but a lot of it was out of date. I think if it had been updated, it would be more interesting/useful. It made me think about certain things in a different way, and then just pissed me off in others. Like when she said our men shouldn't go into the military and should stay home to be "families" - that really angered me. The author made some bold assertions and some were legitimate and others were poorly backed up (or she used very one-sided and subjectiv...more
Dave Smith
is currently reading it
This is not a book worth reading..the author is offering up a left leaning feminist manifesto geared those women and men who are shallow of self and looking for a poor me alibi. One could easily how men could say the "value myth" or elder folks could say the "obselote myth". Its just not refreshing how an author could pander to a mis anthropic audience for her own gain. She furthers this anger and mis antropic theme with other books. Be careful of buying into the victim anthe...more
I know this is a seminal classic and all, but I found a lot of it almost.. insufferable. Perhaps it's because I'm living in a world where the beauty myth has been punctured and exposed, to some extent. The book was written in 1992 so it's about a world I've largely never known. It was also explicitly aimed at upper middle class white women who apparently take women's magazines very seriously. I somewhat fit that demographic, and I'm just not that interested in reading more about it. I'd rather s...more
The Beauty Myth is an interesting and dense book about the pressures that are on women to be defined by their physical appearance. Her argument that women were innocent victims in a society that obsesses on image didn’t convince me, after all it takes two to play a game, but I did enjoy the discussion on psychology of dieting.
It was written in the 1990s and it would be interesting to have a follow up book that looks at the rise of the glamorisation of stupidity (a.k.a Paris Hilton), ...more
It was written in the 1990s and it would be interesting to have a follow up book that looks at the rise of the glamorisation of stupidity (a.k.a Paris Hilton), ...more
I like a lot of what Wolf says, even if she frequently says it in the most overwrought manner possible, but I'm not sure the book completely stands up on its own merit. It's a long book, much longer than the most recent feminist pieces I've read, but for all of Wolf's trumpeting and data quoting, she gets a little conspiratorial at times, then she'll just blame the patriarchy with no further explanation. It got tiring after a while. But it does discuss some important topics like our modern ideal...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
Naomi Wolf is the author of seven books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Beauty Myth, The End of America and Give Me Liberty. She has toured the world speaking to audiences of all walks of life about gender equality, social justice, and, most recently, the defense of liberty in America and internationally. She is the cofounder of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, which te...more
More about Naomi Wolf...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“Women who love themselves are threatening; but men who love real women, more so.”
—
31 people liked it
“Sadly, the signals that allow men and women to find the partners who most please them are scrambled by the sexual insecurity initiated by beauty thinking. A woman who is self-conscious can't relax to let her sensuality come into play. If she is hungry she will be tense. If she is "done up" she will be on the alert for her reflection in his eyes. If she is ashamed of her body, its movement will be stilled. If she does not feel entitled to claim attention, she will not demand that airspace to shine in. If his field of vision has been boxed in by "beauty"--a box continually shrinking--he simply will not see her, his real love, standing right before him.”
—
16 people liked it
More quotes…
