The nonfiction book titled The Beauty Myth explores how the image that society has of beauty is used against women. The author, Naomi Wolf graduated from Yale University and completed graduate work at New College, Oxford University, where she was a Rhode Scholar. Along with writing The Beauty Myth, Wolf has also written three other bestselling books titled Promiscuities, Fire with Fire, and Misconceptions. Wolf is not only an author, but a well known feminist leader for women. She cofounded the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, which trains young women to be conscience-driven leaders. In The Beauty Myth, Wolf’s purpose for her audience is to ultimately make the beauty myth their own. Her hope is that her readers feel the confidence
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Pictured on the book cover, a woman is shown analyzing herself while holding up a mirror. This visual sets the overall theme for what should be expected in the book. Wolf does not just simply define the beauty myth, but she relates it to different aspects of a woman's life by arranging the chapters into separate categories including Work, Culture, Religion, Sex, Hunger, and Violence. By doing this, she keeps the theme consistent but offers insight that there are clear set unrealistic expectations of beauty for women that has been embedded into our culture. The Beauty Myth provides an informative awareness to help the reader view how beauty ideals are used to control women by depreciating their overall work and dealing with changes in culture and …show more content…
Wolf explains that society has essentially placed three required working shifts on women. Because of this, they are forced to work harder to compete with men. Exploring the first two shifts dealing with the role of a professional housewife, and a professional careerist, it is clear that men have it easier in many aspects of work. Not only does Wolf state this, she backs it up with research. She writes, “According to the Humphrey institute of Public Affairs: While women represent 50 percent of the world population, they perform nearly two-thirds of all working hours, receive only one-tenth of the world income and own less than 1 percent of world property” (Wolf, p. 23.) It is evident that women are under-recognized for their unpaid work at home for the family and even their paid work for an employer. This ultimately attacks a woman’s self-worth and self-esteem. Section 70 of the text in Women Images and Realities states, “With the beginnings of industrialization, a major shift occurred, as “work” became something done outside the home, for pay, by men. Women’s work within the home (called housework) was not paid labor and hence not seen as real work” (Women Images and Realities, p. 250.) Relating this to The Beauty Myth, Wolf attempts to persuade the reader to think about how housework has always been an unrecognized job of a woman, and that creates the stigma of
Pictured on the book cover, a woman is shown analyzing herself while holding up a mirror. This visual sets the overall theme for what should be expected in the book. Wolf does not just simply define the beauty myth, but she relates it to different aspects of a woman's life by arranging the chapters into separate categories including Work, Culture, Religion, Sex, Hunger, and Violence. By doing this, she keeps the theme consistent but offers insight that there are clear set unrealistic expectations of beauty for women that has been embedded into our culture. The Beauty Myth provides an informative awareness to help the reader view how beauty ideals are used to control women by depreciating their overall work and dealing with changes in culture and …show more content…
Wolf explains that society has essentially placed three required working shifts on women. Because of this, they are forced to work harder to compete with men. Exploring the first two shifts dealing with the role of a professional housewife, and a professional careerist, it is clear that men have it easier in many aspects of work. Not only does Wolf state this, she backs it up with research. She writes, “According to the Humphrey institute of Public Affairs: While women represent 50 percent of the world population, they perform nearly two-thirds of all working hours, receive only one-tenth of the world income and own less than 1 percent of world property” (Wolf, p. 23.) It is evident that women are under-recognized for their unpaid work at home for the family and even their paid work for an employer. This ultimately attacks a woman’s self-worth and self-esteem. Section 70 of the text in Women Images and Realities states, “With the beginnings of industrialization, a major shift occurred, as “work” became something done outside the home, for pay, by men. Women’s work within the home (called housework) was not paid labor and hence not seen as real work” (Women Images and Realities, p. 250.) Relating this to The Beauty Myth, Wolf attempts to persuade the reader to think about how housework has always been an unrecognized job of a woman, and that creates the stigma of