The Beauty Myth

[alias_sqbr]

Am currently reading "The Beauty Myth" by Naomi Wolf. I was a bit worried it would be a strident polemic (I hate those, even when I agree) but while (as you'd expect) she takes a more extreme view of the situation than me (and tends to stretch her metaphors and arguments further than is wise) she doesn't hit you over the head too much and far from being anti men is if anything a bit soppy about the joy of an equal romantic partnership. I'm not sure I agree with her overall premise, that the focus on Beauty(*) is recent and the result of a backlash against womens lib, but many of her descriptions of the effect it has on women really rang true.

For example: have a listen to love songs on the radio. The ones from men to women often focus on how sexy/beautiful the woman's body is, "I love the feel of your skin" etc. But I can't think of a single love song from a woman to a man where she compliments any part of his body apart from maybe eyes. Feel free to point out the gazillion I'm missing :) EDIT: and you did. I still think it's a tendency, but one which does appear to be changing.

(*)The main aspects are afaict:

• There is an unrealistic, unattainable (too thin, artificial) standard of female beauty
  
• womens self worth is presented as directly related to their similarity to this standard, yet they are judged for being shallow/asking for sexual assault if they try to attain it
  
• Uh..I forget. I may edit this post when I remember :)
  

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

Hey that's totally true. *is all counterexampled*