Minutes July book: The Beauty Myth

The Beauty Myth

by Naomi Wolf

(Chosen by Domestic Goddess)






Domestic Goddess chose this book as she had first read it almost 20 years ago, and wanted to revisit it to see how relevant the issues were today, and whether there had been any changes in that time.

Naomi Wolf is the author of seven books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Beauty Myth, The End of America and Give Me Liberty. She has toured the world speaking to audiences of all walks of life about gender equality, social justice, and, most recently, the defense of liberty in America and internationally. She is the co founder of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, which teaches ethics and empowerment to young women leaders, and is also a co founder of the American Freedom Campaign, a grass roots democracy movement in the United States whose mission is the defense of the Constitution and the rule of law.

(general biographical details from the author's website)

What the publisher says about the book:

In the struggle for women's equality, there is one subject still shrouded in silence - women's compulsive pursuit of beauty. The myth of female beauty challenges every woman, every day of her life. The author exposes the tyranny of the beauty myth through the ages and its oppressive function today, in the home and at work, in literature and the media, in relationships between men and women, between women and women. With examples, she confronts the beauty industry and its advertising and uncovers the reasons why women are consumed by this destructive obsession.

What we discussed about the book:

• Was this an easy book to read? Was it a little like wading through mud?
• Did the need to provide academically acceptable evidence for every argument weigh down the 'narrative' of the book?
• Is it hard to be a both a respected academic thesis, and a book with wide popular appeal?
• What was the main argument of the chapter on religion? How many of us understood that chapter?
• How did Wolf acknowledge the idea of individual free-will to make choices, as opposed to a dominant patriarchal society dictating choices? 
• What is the archetypal ideal of feminine beauty in our society? How is that ideal propagated?
• What are the solutions? Does Wolf offer any solutions? Is being aware of the issue a solution in itself?

Then we were sidetracked into discussing:

• Was this a particularly courageous and ambitious book for a 28 year old to write?
• What is the appeal of professional uniforms? Why are flight attendants, for example, considered 'sexy'?
• The role of digital retouching of photos in creating unrealistic ideals of beauty. (See this video for an excellent summation)
• The recent events at retailer, David Jones. Did the store management/board do enough, soon enough?
• Does 'normalising' nakedness create greater awareness of the wide variety of body types - naked bike day...Turkish baths... How else do people realise there are more body shapes and types than that presented by the mass media?
• Cosmetic surgery, waxing, hair colouring, make-up...who does what and why?
• What can we, as women, do to show leadership on this issue? Is it enough to educate our own children?

And in other news:

• We talked about the idea that 10,000 hours of practice (of any skill) is necessary to become an expert (from Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers book)
• Gypsy confessed to watching 'The Footy Show'...argggghhhhh. (Just for the team line-ups, mind you.)
• We all listened in shocked amusement as Domestic Goddess described her kids' lunchbox packing regime...half a mandarin, three strawberries, half a sandwich for the youngest....She has portion control down to a fine art.

Ratings:
Range: 7 to 9
Average: 7.6

Next book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society  by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (chosen by KM)