Lani's Reviews > The Beauty Myth
The Beauty Myth
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Jesus, I FINALLY finished this book... UGH.
I feel like I have been extremely negative about the last few books I've reviewed, so it's a shame that this is the other one I have left to write up. Because those other books were the ones I was reading to avoid this one!
Naomi Wolf is exactly the reason I don't read much in the ways of feminist tracts. Blahblahblah male conspiracy blahblahblah. It's a shame because some of her points ARE valid and thought-provoking...
The concept of the Beauty Myth hardly needs explaining to most women. I think most self-aware Western women are at this point aware of the manipulation and self-hatred that we are surrounded by on a daily basis. Unfortunately, I think much of the book points the blame outward instead of inward. We can only blame "the patriarchy" for so much. I am more than aware of my own hand in the Beauty Myth and my own unhappiness.
Wolf's book is broken into several chapters, the first few of which I found obnoxious and tired. The book is written in a very academic style, and just beats a dead horse to a pulp. The last few chapters did finally begin to perk up - as I had hoped - as Wolf discussed Violence and Culture and their effects on modern women.
I don't have the energy to put into a good long review of this book, and I'm not sure I even want to waste any more of my time on it anyway. I think slogging through the first 2/3rds of the book was POSSIBLY worth it for some of the later chapters, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone.
I feel like I have been extremely negative about the last few books I've reviewed, so it's a shame that this is the other one I have left to write up. Because those other books were the ones I was reading to avoid this one!
Naomi Wolf is exactly the reason I don't read much in the ways of feminist tracts. Blahblahblah male conspiracy blahblahblah. It's a shame because some of her points ARE valid and thought-provoking...
The concept of the Beauty Myth hardly needs explaining to most women. I think most self-aware Western women are at this point aware of the manipulation and self-hatred that we are surrounded by on a daily basis. Unfortunately, I think much of the book points the blame outward instead of inward. We can only blame "the patriarchy" for so much. I am more than aware of my own hand in the Beauty Myth and my own unhappiness.
Wolf's book is broken into several chapters, the first few of which I found obnoxious and tired. The book is written in a very academic style, and just beats a dead horse to a pulp. The last few chapters did finally begin to perk up - as I had hoped - as Wolf discussed Violence and Culture and their effects on modern women.
I don't have the energy to put into a good long review of this book, and I'm not sure I even want to waste any more of my time on it anyway. I think slogging through the first 2/3rds of the book was POSSIBLY worth it for some of the later chapters, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone.
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Reading Progress
September 9, 2008
– Shelved
September 9, 2008
– Shelved as:
non-fiction
Started Reading
September 20, 2008
–
Finished Reading
March 9, 2012
– Shelved as:
feminism
March 29, 2013
– Shelved as:
psychology
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Oh! I also recently read a compilation of BUST! magazine, a 10th anniversary thing. Articles from their past 10 years, so again a fairly recent one, but wide variety of topics and range of quality. Another similarly decent collection is She's Such a Geek which I enjoyed for its variety of perspectives on female nerdiness.
I'm also fascinated by the topic of women in Islam and have read lots of books on that - see my islam shelf. An academic one, and rather related to the Beauty and Art topic (with an Eastern flavor), would be a book by Fatima Mernissi called... I think, Scherezade Goes West. It is pretty short, but quite an interesting take on the hypersexuality applied to Eastern women and the harem myth. I had a lot of fun reading it.
Apologies for vague descriptions, but I suspect this will make for a fruitful Amazon search...
I also had to read Nancy Etcoff's book The Survival of the Prettiest, which I found much more scientific and compelling.
If you have a recommendation for a recent book on this subject, please send it along.