The Beauty Myth

As women have gained social power and prominence, Naomi Wolf argues, the pressure on them to meet unrealistic standards of physical beauty has grown stronger, driven by commercial influences on the mass media. She presents this beauty myth as a form of social control that may restrict women as much as the old image of homemaker and wife, and she describes an iron maiden, a standard no one can reach that is then used to punish women for failing. First published in 1990, the book follows its effects in work, religion, sex, violence and hunger, the five areas Wolf identifies, and calls the fashion and beauty industries exploitative. Wolf ultimately argues for relaxing beauty norms.

Emma Watson picked it for Our Shared Shelf, her book club.