The Beauty Myth, By Naomi Wolf
The way gender is represented in the media and fashion has always been controversial. Especially for women, there is often a hyper-feminized body, which is glorified, including perfectly sculpted curves and a pore-less face. It is with these typical standards that regularly everyday women feel inadequate or unattractive unless they fit this unrealistic expectation. Naomi Wolf refers to this experience as “the beauty myth” where despite the notion of being liberated as a woman, there still exists restrictions in the form of physical appearance (9). What is extremely dangerous about this hyper-feminized media is that it may cause women to develop eating disorders, since often only slim females are represented as beautiful. Overall, the constant
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reminder for women or men to fit these standards often leads to dreadful outcomes. Throughout growing up, I have often noticed myself conforming to the typical hyper-feminized appearance women are given in the media.
Even when I have a tiny bit of acne or scars on my face, I have felt unattractive, since I am so used to seeing dolled up women, extremely airbrushed with virtually nothing wrong. Wolf states that the beauty myth is “composed of emotional distance, politics, finance, and sexual repression. The beauty myth is not about women at all. It is about men’s institutions and institutional power” (13). I find this to be true in my own life, as I often believe that women are seen with the male gaze in mind. It is hard to escape gender roles growing up, and I think the hyper-feminized and hyper-masculinized images are often glorified creating a sense of disassociation in young adults when not fitting with what is seen as traditional roles. I have known young women who struggle with anorexia, and often they are poorly influenced by how extremely thin models appear, becoming a terrible risk for their health and safety. Susan Bordo in her discussion states that “today, as many as a million men—and eight million women—have an eating disorder” (207). This is a terrifyingly high number of women and men who struggle with the disorder. Generally, I believe a lot of individuals deal with poor self-esteem due to the constant stream of what is considered beautiful, which is often not what our bodies look like. It is hard to accept ourselves because of these, and our capitalist society benefits on all of the costs that women spend on make-up, or in general the beauty
industry. I believe that often gender is performative, in that we dress ourselves in the way we want to be perceived by others. The hyper-feminine and masculine images that we few throughout childhood definitely have an impact on this view on ourselves, and often lead us to conform to what we believe is correct in the view of society. Women often feel the additional pressure of being traditionally beautiful, even perhaps going at great lengths to force their bodies to do the impossible. The danger comes when people begin to have severe mental health issues due to the unobtainable beauty that is constantly surrounding them.
reminder for women or men to fit these standards often leads to dreadful outcomes. Throughout growing up, I have often noticed myself conforming to the typical hyper-feminized appearance women are given in the media.
Even when I have a tiny bit of acne or scars on my face, I have felt unattractive, since I am so used to seeing dolled up women, extremely airbrushed with virtually nothing wrong. Wolf states that the beauty myth is “composed of emotional distance, politics, finance, and sexual repression. The beauty myth is not about women at all. It is about men’s institutions and institutional power” (13). I find this to be true in my own life, as I often believe that women are seen with the male gaze in mind. It is hard to escape gender roles growing up, and I think the hyper-feminized and hyper-masculinized images are often glorified creating a sense of disassociation in young adults when not fitting with what is seen as traditional roles. I have known young women who struggle with anorexia, and often they are poorly influenced by how extremely thin models appear, becoming a terrible risk for their health and safety. Susan Bordo in her discussion states that “today, as many as a million men—and eight million women—have an eating disorder” (207). This is a terrifyingly high number of women and men who struggle with the disorder. Generally, I believe a lot of individuals deal with poor self-esteem due to the constant stream of what is considered beautiful, which is often not what our bodies look like. It is hard to accept ourselves because of these, and our capitalist society benefits on all of the costs that women spend on make-up, or in general the beauty
industry. I believe that often gender is performative, in that we dress ourselves in the way we want to be perceived by others. The hyper-feminine and masculine images that we few throughout childhood definitely have an impact on this view on ourselves, and often lead us to conform to what we believe is correct in the view of society. Women often feel the additional pressure of being traditionally beautiful, even perhaps going at great lengths to force their bodies to do the impossible. The danger comes when people begin to have severe mental health issues due to the unobtainable beauty that is constantly surrounding them.