Paper 1

Kate Marr
Professor Yaisa Mann
WS 3413.001
October 1, 2009
Assignment #1

The Beauty Myth

Beauty can be defined in many ways. Some define it as coming from within; a person’s morals, values, personality, or the way they carry themselves. Others see beauty as only what is on the outside; perfect facial features, model thin body type, beautiful skin, hair and eyes. In today’s society, beauty is decided upon from a “general opinion” judging in beauty competitions, such as Miss Universe. This “general opinion” most definitely does not come from the everyday American woman. Day in and day out, women are overwhelmed with beauty standards that are unrealistic and unattainable for the typical five foot four, one hundred and forty pound, size fourteen woman. Thus, they are constantly striving to achieve this standard of what the popular culture deems as beautiful. When we get caught up in allowing the media to define what is beautiful, we lose sight of our own definitions and our own standards. This is exactly what Naomi Wolf is trying to explain in her book The Beauty Myth. Throughout her novel, she expresses this obsession with the beauty myth that has been placed in the laps of today’s women, restricting them to a tireless fixation on physical perfection.
This beauty myth is defined by Naomi Wolf as “actually prescribing behavior and not appearance” (Wolf 14). She breaks beauty down by generations and explains what issues, concerning beauty; women in that specific time period were faced with. Beauty before the industrial revolution is much less complex as the one that has been mutated into the one today. In that time, the beauty myth was much less prominent and women did not have to worry about the media influence like they do today. Women were exposed to less images outside the church, thus they didn’t have the constant fixation on trying to be physically perfect. In that time, the family was seen a “productive unit and women’s work complimented men’s; the value of women…lay in their work skills, economic shrewdness, physical strength, and fertility” (Wolf 14). This definition goes along with how she defined the beauty myth. Women were to be seen and not heard, thus their behavior was what was seen as beautiful. Beauty in today’s society is seen as outwardly appearances only. In a very demeaning way, women are often compared to the economy. Economist John Kenneth Galbraith mentions that the concept of women “has been forced on us by popular sociology, by magazines, and by fiction to disguise the fact that women in her role of consumer has been essential to the development of our industrial society…” (Wolf 18). Women have been degraded into simple objects that men and society use to gain economical and industrial advances.
When identifying the standard across cultures, three particular ones stood out. The first culture was the Nigerian Wodaabes in Africa. Unlike American culture, the Wodaabes are obsessed with male beauty. The men of this culture spend hours upon hours with each other in intricate make up sessions where they paint their bodies and provocatively dress to compete in contests (much like the beauty competitions in America) judged by three beautiful, unmarried women. It is through this dance that men compete for a woman and a potential wife. Since physical beauty is so important to the Wodaabes, if a woman is married to a not so attractive male, that male will allow his wife to sleep with a more handsome man in order for her to bear a beautiful child. When compared to the American standard of beauty, this would be considered completely unacceptable. For one, women would never be seen as the source of economic power like they are in Wodabbe, and second, the men of our society would never let “their” woman sleep with another man to create a more genetically perfect baby. American men are way too prideful to even consider another man to be more handsome than them. Another culture that has comparably different standards of beauty is the African country of Mauritania. It is here where the phrase “bigger is better” is socially acceptable. Young girls are fed foods that are high in fat in order to gain quick weight. Mauritania men actually prefer women who have “big butts, are divorced, with thick ankles, arms and stretch marks” (Borer 2). These women are also lacking in education and power. Looking at this culture and comparing it to American culture, there are many differences. For example, in American big and beautiful is not considered to be desired by most men. Men in this society want women who are tall, thin and usually blonde. Also, women in American society are well educated, some even having some sort of power being it economically, socially, or politically. The last example of a beauty standard was found in Paris, France. Here, women enjoy to look elegant, but in a natural way. They believe that feeling good starts from the inside and works its way out, so they buy beauty products for all parts of the body. For example, they buy products for the skin and then top with fancy underwear and nice clothing. As they age, women don’t still feel sexy. This particular culture compares close to American culture in the fact that women buy products to make them feel good about themselves, such as make-up, sexy panties, and fancy clothing.
All in all, there is a standard of beauty that is in every culture, though it is very different. I believe that this differing in beauty standards is what makes each woman unique to her culture. Throughout her book, Naomi Wolf discusses many aspects of the beauty myth that has captivated the American culture for centuries. Before reading this book, I never throughout of women as objects that were the fixation of such a standard. The Beauty Myth has opened my eyes to many things that I would have never noticed before this book.

Works Cited
Borer, Elizabeth. "Beauty Secrets from Around the World-Show Recap." 20 11 2008: 2. Web. 1 Oct 2009. .
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers INC. , 1991. Print.


Kate Marr
Professor Yaisa Mann
WS 3413.001
October 1, 2009
Assignment #1

Sex Sells

Anyone in a checkout line in the local grocery store can tell you how much the magazine stands pop out at them. On most magazine covers the headlines have bright colored, bolded words and a picture of a beautiful woman (usually an actress) most of the time hardly clothed. This technique is used to intentionally draw in the consumer in hopes that they will purchase their magazine. When the reader picks up the magazine and examines it closer, they come to see what the magazine is really representing; the society’s definition of what is beautiful and how women can obtain this perfect body. In her book, The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf argues that the media images portrayed to the public is what is causing women in today’s society to become self-conscious about their bodies and striving to fulfill popular cultures definition of a flawless body.
At first glance, many people see magazines as innocent forms of entertainment. But when taking a deeper look into the headlines that are being portrayed, one can see that there is a link between the articles featured in that month’s edition and what aspect of beauty society considers most important. For example, Glamour is a very popular woman’s magazine and on the cover of this month’s edition, Scarlett Johansen is posed with nothing but a long white shirt on. She seems to have the perfect color skin tone, no pores or wrinkles on her face and her collar bones are protruding ever so slightly to hint at her thin body frame. In big bold, black letters, “Sex and Love” is scrolled across the front. In a smaller font and brighter colors are “50 Little Ways to Dress your Body Sexier” and “Great Skin! Your Dos and Don’ts at 20, 30, 40”. If this isn’t screaming “Change your figure into this ideal, socially perfect flawless body!” then I don’t know what is. In her book, Naomi Wolf mentions that “a woman reading Glamour is holding women-oriented mass culture between her two hands” which is true in many ways. (71). Women are greatly affected by what they read from such magazines. The articles in these magazines give women a false sense of the imperfections of their body, and make them socially self-conscious about their appearances to the point that some of them create this sense of self-hatred towards their physical exterior; known as a beauty backlash. Wolf believes that this backlash is “spread and reinforced by the cycles of self-hatred provoked in women by the advertisements, photo-features, and beauty copy in the glossies” (73). These indexes make false promises to tell women what men want, what body styles men consider sexy, and how to turn them on. What women think is coming from men, is in fact what the advertisers want from women. Basically these articles aren’t about how to make women happy, but are instead about how to make other people happy with women’s appearances. An interesting point that was in The Beauty Myth was about the voice of the magazine and how it gives women an authority figure to look up to and admire as well as offer a platform for women all over the country to relate to each other. It builds a sense of false trust and as one editor says “‘…it’s like a club. Its function is to provide readers with a comfortable sense of community and pride in their identity’” (74).
I believe that magazines focus on beauty and fitness because if a woman is beautiful and in shape, she is considered sexy, and if she is sexy she is desirable. All women want to be desirable and sexy, and all men want a sexy woman. Unfortunately what this means is that the demeaning nature of these magazines make profit off of sex; sex does sell and sex makes these advertising companies a great deal of money. Throughout her novel, Naomi Wolf argues that these images are the reason why women have such a terrible opinion about their physical appearances, but also explains how these magazines help the feminist movement change with the generations. In conclusion, the magazines that we are exposed to each and everyday are much more complex that we originally think. The Beauty Myth has helped open my eyes to the intentions of the advertisements on the magazines and within the magazine itself. As long as women keep buying into what the advertisers are trying to sell, the more the magazines will drive women into their beauty addictions. As time goes on, the beauty myth will keep intensifying with the changing of the times.


Works Cited
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers INC. , 1991. Print