Since middle-class Western women can best be weakened psychologically now that we are stronger materially, the beauty myth, as it has resurfaced in the last generation, has had to draw on more technological sophistication and reactionary fervor than ever before. The modern arsenal of the myth is a dissemination of millions of images of the current ideal; although this barrage is generally seen as a collective sexual fantasy, there is in fact little that is sexual about it. It is summoned out of political fear on the part of male-dominated institutions threatened by women's freedom, and it exploits female guilt and apprehension about our own liberation -- latent fears that we might be going too far. Naomi Wolf
About This Quote

There are many different reasons why people might believe that the beauty myth is everywhere. For example, women might be influenced by the media; they might feel guilty for wanting to be attractive; or perhaps they think that there is something wrong with them because they do not look like the celebrities in the magazines. Whatever the reason may be, it isn’t entirely true. While there are many different ways in which the beauty myth influences people, there are also some ways in which it doesn’t.

The beauty myth does influence women, but not in the way that society wants them to think that it does. Women are influenced by many different things, but the most important thing that influences women is their own individual experiences with their own body image.

Source: The Beauty Myth

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