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A review by evaraymond
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf
Did not finish book.
I am conflicted.
As it is almost a symbol of feminist literature in the 1990s, this book has been on my tbr for a long time, I knew it would be heavy in facts and suitable to non-fiction genre, but it has rather disappointed me. It's extremely dry, it is very outdated (apparently reading it in 2020 is not a good idea) and in some cases irrelevant.
The author talks about crucial things that are worth the research: industry of beauty and fashion, capitalism, how they both have created the "beauty myth", how they influence our lives, sure, I would like to know more of them and might use this book as a source of future historical research. I might even come back to it if I purchase a physical copy. But it is a bit too radical, it doesn't suit the new wave of feminism (at least intersectional) and not even the trends of our society (we all know now that society expects way too much and no one has to suffice it if it harms us in any way -- the idea of the book).
The author encourages change, however, this change has already happened in some way (there's a movement of body positivity, there is much more diversity and representation). Life without beauty myth seems utopic because it is a social construct and the only thing we can do is to dismiss it for ourselves, as much as we dismiss the idealistic views of a woman, a man, marriage, virginity, religion etc. Politics cannot shape one thing alone as all of the perspectives (art, social, economic, political) of our lives correlate and work together.
I would recommend it to women (unfortunately, as this book only focuses on women) who are confused in their own self-image, in how they should look like, however, it is almost unreadable and I really think a good pep talk would help better.
As it is almost a symbol of feminist literature in the 1990s, this book has been on my tbr for a long time, I knew it would be heavy in facts and suitable to non-fiction genre, but it has rather disappointed me. It's extremely dry, it is very outdated (apparently reading it in 2020 is not a good idea) and in some cases irrelevant.
The author talks about crucial things that are worth the research: industry of beauty and fashion, capitalism, how they both have created the "beauty myth", how they influence our lives, sure, I would like to know more of them and might use this book as a source of future historical research. I might even come back to it if I purchase a physical copy. But it is a bit too radical, it doesn't suit the new wave of feminism (at least intersectional) and not even the trends of our society (we all know now that society expects way too much and no one has to suffice it if it harms us in any way -- the idea of the book).
The author encourages change, however, this change has already happened in some way (there's a movement of body positivity, there is much more diversity and representation). Life without beauty myth seems utopic because it is a social construct and the only thing we can do is to dismiss it for ourselves, as much as we dismiss the idealistic views of a woman, a man, marriage, virginity, religion etc. Politics cannot shape one thing alone as all of the perspectives (art, social, economic, political) of our lives correlate and work together.
I would recommend it to women (unfortunately, as this book only focuses on women) who are confused in their own self-image, in how they should look like, however, it is almost unreadable and I really think a good pep talk would help better.