A review by marzistarzi
Venus and Aphrodite: A Biography of Desire by Bettany Hughes

2.75

Honestly, I mostly skimmed it. Not anything against the writing or anything like that, I just think the history behind Aphrodite failed to appeal to me when it was seen so heavily through the eyes of the male sex. (Which makes sense you know but it still kind of bummed me out…) 

The author did include a lot of historical context that did make the history interesting. Ex: cult of the buttocks. And I did enjoy reading Aphrodite’s influence on Freud and marketing—

[Freud’s] identification of the power of what he called "the pleasure principle" and 
"wish fulfilment" established psychoanalytical guidelines that were eagerly employed by the advertising industry as triggers to tap into an individual's inner yearnings and de-sires. So we have Gillette's Venus razors for women, promising to "Reveal the goddess in you." Dove soap for soft skin, and Venus-branded pomegranate juice. The gifts of Aphrodite were used now not to bind communities, but to aid self-fulfillment and self-absorption.