The

Beauty MythHow Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women

Naomi Wolf

Summary

The basic premise of THE BEAUTY MYTH is that forced adherence to standards of physical beauty has grown stronger for women as they gained power in other

societal arenas. Wolf argues that this standard of beauty has taken over the work of social coercion formerly left to myths about motherhood, domesticity,

chastity, and passivity, all of which have been used to keep women powerless. In the author’s view, “the gaunt, youthful model [has] supplanted the happy

housewife as the arbiter of successful womanhood.” The myth of beauty spreads the belief that an objective measurement of beauty exists, and that woman must

want to embody it, and that men must want such women.

“The more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon us... during the

past decade, women breached the power structure; meanwhile, eating disorders rose exponentially and cosmetic surgery became the fastest-growing specialty... pornography became the main media category, ahead of legitimate films and records combined, and

thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal...More women have more money and power

and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before; but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unliberated

grandmothers.”

“The more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon us... during the past decade, women breached the power structure; meanwhile, eating disorders rose exponentially and cosmetic

surgery became the fastest-growing specialty... pornography became the main media category, ahead of legitimate films and records combined, and

thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal...More

women have more money and power and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before; but in terms of how we feel about

ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unliberated grandmothers.”

Application of “The Beauty Myth” by Music Magazines

Music magazines use the beauty myth to their advantage by putting attractive females on their front covers to improve product appeal. To

improve chances of selling the magazine to readers, the female “imperfections” are smoothed over using Photoshop. This supposedly persuades women to buy the magazine as they idolise these female

figures and want to embody them because of their “beauty” and therefore have value.