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1-Page Summary of The Beauty Myth

Introduction

Even though the feminist movement has made progress in Western societies, women still face discrimination. Despite their professional and financial gains, many women are still not satisfied with their lives. Although they have access to more opportunities than before, many women are still oppressed by society’s expectations about how they should look and behave.

The beauty myth is the last remnant of the old ideologies that used to dictate how women should behave. These oppressive social mores have weakened, but they still influence female behavior and personal expression. The standards for physical attractiveness are impossible to meet, so women feel like they need to be beautiful in order to succeed.

The beauty myth is a social control that keeps women from achieving their goals. It teaches women to strive for unattainable physical standards and devalues them when they don’t meet those expectations. This is all done in the name of keeping women down, even though it’s actually working against itself by bringing about more equality between men and women.

The beauty myth is a concept that is used to describe how women are portrayed in media. The concept isn’t about physical appearance, it’s actually a political tool designed to make women feel bad and change their behavior.

The idea of the “beauty myth” is that there’s a concrete definition of beauty, and women should strive to attain it. This concept also suggests that men should seek out beautiful women as partners. The problem with this is that there isn’t really an objective definition of beauty; people tend to perceive things differently based on their own personal experiences and biases.

However, there is no universal standard of beauty. Beauty standards change over time and vary from person to person. Furthermore, the myth of beauty has many double-standards: women who are sexually active are seen as immoral whores while women who aren’t sexual at all are dismissed as prudes. Women who adhere to a strict regimen or pursue plastic surgery get criticized for being superficial and silly; on the other hand, those who don’t adopt such practices are seen as plain and ugly. Both youth and old age have been used as reasons not to take women seriously in society.

According to the beauty myth, women must be beautiful. However, there is no clear definition of what “beautiful” means. Instead, beauty standards are always changing and unattainable because they’re based on physical perfection. The purpose of this standard is to make sure that women never feel good about themselves and instead focus on their flaws. It’s a personal attack against female achievements in professional, legal and economic realms so that it can take them down a peg when they do gain those victories.

To destroy the beauty myth, we must first critically analyze how it affects female progress in various aspects of life.

The Beauty Myth in the Workplace

As women gained more power in the workforce, they were also subjected to a new social pressure: the beauty myth. The beauty myth is used as an excuse for employers to discriminate against female employees by making physical appearance and presentation acceptable criteria for employment discrimination.

For example, in 1972, the state of New York ruled that beauty was a legal reason to fire female employees. The ruling stated that the Playboy Club had the right to fire a waitress for being too old.

In the broadcasting industry, there are strict standards for how women should look. While male anchors can have wrinkles and receding hairline, female anchors can’t. They’re held to a narrow standard of beauty that doesn’t apply at all to men. In 1983, a woman sued her employer because she was fired for being old and unattractive. The judge sided with her employer because this is what’s expected in broadcasting: if you don’t fit the mold, you won’t be taken seriously by your peers or get hired by anyone else either.