How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women (Book Review Sample)

How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002. Pp. iii, 368, ISBN 0060512180.
The British scholar, poet, and journalist Naomi Woolf's written work present a striking criticism of the beauty perception imposed on women for decades by men. The book has found its place as a bestselling classic, originally published in 1991, because it offers a harsh reality about women's image that is still valid in today's world, sadly. So for the women out there, who are still so concerned about how they look or should look, it is a perfect book to understand that the beauty standards constructed and imposed on a woman by the male power structure are just a myth, and women are so much more than that. The central thesis of Woolf argues that the relentless ideals of beauty used on women were created by the male power in many industries and of economic and political interests, creating oppression that made and still makes women vulnerable and unconfident. Although some parts needed further analysis, Woolf's arguments are fundamental overall. Despite their sex, the book urges the readers to understand how much brutality had been put forward on women about their body image and how these stereotyped perceptions consciously pushed women to be inferior to men for ages.
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women was not an easy one to read. It took months for me to finish it due to its long narratives and generalized statements about the beauty image issue. Nevertheless, I chose this book because of the overall messages Wolf gave throughout the book, and the fact that many are still relevant keeps putting women in a position where they feel attacked and inferior. While I believe that Woolf could not reach the conclusion, she wanted to give her readers in the end, she presents crucial facts that every single woman and man should be aware of and take a minute to understand these unrealistic beauty standards. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women consists of six sections respectively: work, culture, religion, sex, hunger, and violence. Moreover, the sections contain statistics, interviews, figures, court cases, her readings of feminists Susan Brownmiller, Andrea Drowkin, Friedan, and quotes. Woolf's main aim is to depict how the concept of beauty and standards of beauty had been in the hands of the patriarchal structure, creating an ideal woman image that became the cause of many problems and troubles women had faced for centuries. Woolf believes that despite changing attitudes and behaviors and liberating feminist movements that lifted women into public space, the burden on women remained despite their success and economic liberation.