Naomi Wolf The Beauty Myths

The Beauty Myth’s central argument is the growing standards of physical beauty of women as they grow stronger. This standard has affected women in many ways, such as in the workplace, culture, and religion. The standard has taken over the work of social harassment. The beauty myth expands the belief an unbiased measurement of beauty exists and that women want to express it and men would want that women. The author, Naomi Wolf, states that the beauty myth is not about women themselves, it is about the power of men and their society. The myth supplies power to multibillion dollar cosmetics industries and it keeps women from rising too high in the workplace. Within this book, Wolf shows how the beauty myth functions and affects women in the workplace, media, sex, religion, culture, violence against women by men, and by women themselves in the configuration of cosmetic surgery and eating disorders.

As of recently, the media has been flooded with positive interpretations of beauty standards all over the world. According to various sources, beauty ideals, in women especially, are socially constructed in order to judge a person’s value based on physical attractiveness; therefore, it is highly encouraged that people pay attention to their looks and take care of themselves, in order for others to create a positive first impression of one’s character. It is no secret that beauty standards vary from one culture to the next and it is difficult to establish a universal principle of what is considered beautiful. Many countries’ ideals contrast one another and, as a result, allow for stereotypes to emerge. This is the case between American

There is a cliché quote that people say, “Beauty is in the eye of beholder.” But in the essay “The Ugly Truth About Beauty” (1998) Dave Barry argues about how women who spend countless hours on their so called “beauty” whereas men seem not to care. Barry uses juxtaposition and exaggeration to poke fun at men and women behavior and shed light on the harm that the beauty industry is doing. When Barry argues his point of his essay he addresses both genders, but more specifically teenage to middle age men and women, but he writes about it in a humorous and light-hearted manner.

The beauty standard is a culturally constructed notion of physical attractiveness that has become increasingly imperative for women and men. However, this standard has become extremely perilous to men and women’s self-image. Camille Paglia, a highly educated individual who earned her PhD at Yale University and became a highly acclaimed author, explicates this conception in her essay “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery”. Paglia suggests that the beauty standard idealizes women to look like “sex symbols with an unattainable grandeur” (776). She continues to claim that it forces her audience of higher class women to pay large sums of money in order to alter their features ultimately conforming to a very “parochial” definition of beauty (776). Although Paglia is a highly credible source, she illogically appeals to the reader’s fears in order to persuade them. Paglia fails to give any credible outside sources which affirms her preposterous beliefs. Contrary to her inconsistencies, Daniel Akst, a social journalist and graduate from New York University provides his audience with reputable sources in order to persuade his audience. Daniel Akst believes that there needs to be a “democratization of physical beauty” in which instead of attempting to alter the beauty standard, we must first change how we view ourselves. Akst provides credible sources to establish his credibility where he observes cases studies and cultural experiments from scientists and organizations including:

Women have long been fighting for their right to be seen as equal to men. Even to this day, women continue to fight for their rights, things such as the right to non-gender discriminatory wages. While there may be some arguments over the state of gender equality in the modern world, it is undeniable that there have been great strides made toward recognizing the female 's worth in the workforce and as a human being. Despite these strides, however, things are still not yet ideal for women and many of the issues females face today are the very same issues that have been plaguing them for decades. While it is unfortunate the oppression of women has been so long-lived, the length of that exposure has thankfully enabled many talented writers to both lament over the fact and emphasize the need for gender equality.

Despite legislation for equal opportunities, sexism is still evident in the workplace. Women have made great advancements in the workforce and have become an integral part of the labor market. They have greater access to higher education and as a result, greater access to traditionally male dominated professions such as law. While statistics show that women are equal to men in terms of their numbers in the law profession, it is clear however, that they have not yet achieved equality in all other areas of their employment. Discrimination in the form of gender, sex and sexual harassment continues to be a problem in today’s society.

In comparing the oppression of women to a metaphorical birdcage, Marilyn Frye’s essay “Oppression” expands the definition of what constitutes as an oppressive act. In doing so, some would argue that her definition allows for nearly every interaction between men and women to have some underlying sexist tone. Others, including myself, would deny such a claim and argue that as opposed to stretching the realms of sexism, Frye’s interpretation contributes to a deeper understanding of sexism in modern society. While it is true that Frye’s metaphor could be over applied and abused, in the long term, it is more beneficial than detrimental. Because the situation of women in the western world has improved vastly in comparison to other societies,

“The Beauty Myth” written by Naomi Wolf is an essay written to present how the advancements of women in social power lead to a societal backlash that lead to a woman’s value being equated to her appearance by both sexes. This devaluation of women has led to a harmful relationship with food and women subjecting themselves to mental and physical torture to be thin. Wolf describes in the 1920s was the first time that women became “preoccupied with dieting and thinness” after receiving the right to vote. In the 1950s, women’s curves were celebrated again because “their minds were occupied in domestic seclusion.” According to Wolf, when women were in male spheres, “that pleasure had to be overridden by an urgent social

Women all over the world have been mistreated for more than a century. It has been exploited throughout the world as how “women aren’t currently treated the same as men in certain situations” but it is far more beyond that. Only half of the world seems to at least know what is really happening behind the curtain. Ambiguous people have manipulated the very much realness with what is exactly taking place in our society. In this essay, I will be talking about the following things; Inequity in the workplace, “Asking for it”, Violence against women globally, Education, and The psychology of it all. These five topics need to be demanded attention. Our younger generation needs to be cognizant of what has been going on for many millenniums. Girls and women should be able to walk around at night and not be afraid, nor should they be afraid to oppose another man. There is no real justification on why women should be treated like this but there is plenty of justification on why they shouldn 't, so genuinely why is this problem happening? Some of the books that I read to have mostly validation on this paper from other human beings but also to enlighten myself even more that I already am. “Subjection of Women” by John Stuart Mill, “Created Equal: Voices on Women 's Rights” by Anna Horsbrugh-Porter, and “Equal Pay for Equal Work” by Grace C. Strachan. I chose these three texts because each one yet talks about the same thing but has a little bit of a different perspective on each. I

The Beauty Myth is the last (and most dangerous) of a long line of lies concerning the "rules" of feminine attributes and behavior. It is the most dangerous because it has succeeded in effecting women's internal sense of themselves. It has created a standard of

Beauty standards are portrayed everywhere: on magazines, social media, ads, commercials, and even flaunted among peers. While the ideals are supposed to promote health awareness, fitness motivation, and self love, it unfortunately results in many unfavorable consequences. Women are constantly “penalized for not being beautiful and at the same time are stigmatized, even pathologized, for not feeling beautiful, for having low self-esteem, for engaging in behaviors like dieting and excessive exercising, or for having eating disorders” (Johnston and Taylor 954). Beauty standards are unrealistic and unhealthy to pursue, and misinforms the public on what true beauty is. While not all beauty image ideals promote negative feelings and dissatisfaction, many believe that the negative effects far outweighs any positive effects.

In today’s society, women are held to a higher standard of beauty than men. Women in the media shape society’s mainstream idea of beauty. Beauty standards surround us worldwide, from magazines, television, to films. The media depicts unrealistic expectations for women to look a certain way. One of the great offenders of this issue is Victoria’s Secret, because they only use models that look a particular way

Women have struggled against stereotypes, stigmas and expectations for generations. In a world where women are surrounded by images of stick figure, perfect models, they often don’t feel they measure up and can’t be as beautiful. That’s why in 2004 the personal care and body wash brand Dove decided to make a change. They started their “Real Beauty” campaign and released a variety of advertisements depicting real, normal women and their real beauty. One of these ads, the 2013 “Real Beauty Sketches,” showed women detailing their appearances to a forensic sketch artist then comparing their sketches to how others had described them. Before long it was “the most-watched video ad of all time”

We are constantly surrounded by images of the “perfect” woman. She is tall, thin and beautiful. She rarely looks older than 25, has a flawless body, and her hair and clothes are always perfect. She is not human. She is often shown in pieces – a stomach, a pair of legs, a beautifully made up eye or mouth. Our culture judges women, and women judge themselves, against this standard. It is forgotten that “beauty pornography”, as Wolf says, focuses on underweight models that are usually 15 to 20 years old. Flaws, wrinkles and other problems are airbrushed out of the picture.

Gender discrimination is an unfavorable treatment based on gender. It causes the elimination of individual’s right and opportunity (Reeves and Baden, 2000: 2). Gender discrimination usually disadvantages women because women are considered inferior in society. Virginia Woolf states that gender discrimination is a result of the imbalance power between men and women (in Dobie, 2012: 114). Apparently, women have already suffered the discrimination since a long time ago.