Rating: 
Summary: Good wake up call
Review: I read this book to expose myself to the feminist perspective. It was very disconcerting, to say the least. You have to read this book to be able to appreciate how insane this woman is. Firstly, reality check, Naomi- about 70 girls die annually from anorexia, not 150 000.
How did that one get past the editor? If all the 'evidence' that you can offer to support your theories are anecdotes, people's statements of their feelings, statements of your feelings, and incorrect stastitics that have no scientific link to your claims in the first place, then I hope your theory doesn't relate to surgical procedures, because a lot of people will likely be hurt at your and your followers' hands. Pedictably, though, this 'theory' appeals to many people's feelings. It's too bad rationality and skepticism aren't prevalent in the population- especially amongst the members of the population who think that Women's Studies is an academically respectable course. How do I know that a computor is in front of me? I can see it, I can touch it; if anything exists, there must be physical signs of its existance, even if we can't measure them.
This woman does not require physical evidence to believe that something is true. It does not matter that 150 000 women don't die of anorexia anually- she believes that there is an anorexia epidemic. To her, you wouldn't have to see, feel, or measure physical properties to determine whether a computor existed or not; if she 'felt' it existed, then it would.
At least, if she had consistency, she would make that judgement, but she most likely does not. Consistency in analysis procedure suggests rationality. This woman is clearly not rational, to say the least. Save your brain and your money. If you want to learn about beauty, read about research into beauty- averageness studies, studies with babies(who have had no exposure to the media). Read about evolutionary biology. Evolution- mountains of evidence. The Beauty Myth- none.
Nuff said
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful, incisive, and an interesting read!
Review: In The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf argues that our culture's images of beauty -- found on television and in advertisements, women's magazines, and pornography -- are detrimental to women, as well as to the men who love them. She demonstrates that the concept of "beauty" is a weapon used to make women feel badly about themselves; after all, no one can live up to the ideal. Wolf DOES agree that beauty plays a legitimate role in our lives and in our attractions to one another. The problem, she says, is when beauty is defined as thinness, pertness, and youthfulness taken to extremes -- extremes that are literally unattainable for healthy women. And I agree. Wolf's book explores 6 areas of life in which problems result from the beauty myth. Each has its own chapter that can be read on its own and still make perfect sense. I suggest starting with whichever interests you the most. They are as follows: * WORK. Here, the author details the way the concept of "beauty" can be used to discriminate against women in the workforce. If women are too pretty, we're not taken seriously; if women aren't pretty enough, we can legally be fired for their perceived "homeliness." Then again, if we're too pretty, it's our own fault when they're sexually harassed; if we're not pretty enough, people doubt men would have actually harassed them. The author offers a dizzying list of legal cases lost by women which demonstrate the extent of this catch-22 -- compelling stuff. * CULTURE. This focuses on the role of women's magazines (the sole arbiter of women's culture) in shaping our lives, by selling us on the need for beauty products by making us feel bad about themselves. It also notes that advertisers pressure the magazines into this, because only if women feel terrible about themselves will high-income women spend a quarter (yes, a quarter) of their each paycheck on beauty products. * RELIGION. Convincingly argues that the quest for thinness has replaced the quest for moral virtue and heavenly salvation, and shows how this quest has the same effects that religion once did -- of keeping women submissive and preoccupied. * SEX. Demonstrates that the beauty myth actually supresses female sexuality by making many women too self-conscious to engage in sex freely and comfortably, and moreover, that excessive dieting leads to a diminished sex drive. It also argues that the beauty myth hurts men by making them unaware of what real women look like, and by giving them the role of "appraiser of beauty" instead of the role of "partner" -- further impacting sexual relations. * HUNGER. The beauty myth convinces women to "willingly" go hungry, to eat fewer calories per day than famine victims in third-world countries, which results in ironic weight gain and/or in eating disorders (compulsive eating, anorexia, and bulemia). Includes a compelling account of the author's own battle with anorexia. * VIOLENCE. This is not about domestic violence, but rather the self-inflicted violence of cosmetic surgery, which is so painful and damaging to the body. Interesting comparisons with Victorian sexual surgery and with potentially deadly experimental medical research (which is unethical). The author questions why so many women are willing to risk diminished erotic responses and even death in order to be made thin or small-nosed or large-breasted or whatever. Her conclusion is that culture implies that women are better off dead than old or ugly-looking, making it a reasonable risk. In conclusion, this is a very strong, compelling book. At times, some of what Wolf says is a bit hard to swallow -- but read as a whole, it presents a solid argument about the sickness of our society today. Men, read it for your wives; parents, read it for your daughters; and ladies, read it for yourself. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An eye opener
Review: Interesting to me that the male reviewers seemed to uniformly hate this book! Settle down, guys--we're not all going to stop shaving and exercising, and if you don't have Paris Hilton panting over you, believe me, it's NOT because of anything Naomi Wolf said!
Whatever I may think of the author and her philosophy, as a rule I like a book that makes me see things in ways I hadn't before. This was one of those books. I don't agree with everything the author writes, but after borrowing it from the library, I had to buy it for myself so I could write in the margins about all the "a-ha!" moments it prompted. Sadly for those who like black and white, beauty, like most things, is on a continuum. People cite Etcoff's "Survival of the Prettiest" in opposition to this book, but if the premises of "Prettiest" were completely true, then after thousands upon thousands of years of evolution, why aren't we all collectively lovely? Why aren't the women who have the most offspring (ie, the fittest) also the Cindy Crawford clones? One of my former evolution professors, David Wilson, just published a study showing that people who shared common goals and interests rated each other as more attractive than they rated strangers.
I'm short, overweight, and past my prime in years, but I'm evolutionarily fitter than average (3 children), and have a strong husband who is a good provider (the biologically desired currency for males), and he even loves me!--from where I stand, it looks like most women can safely drop a lot of their beauty obsession, and I think Wolf says a lot that would encourage us to.
Rating:
Summary: A new perspective
Review: It is an eye-opener. Why is that, really, that commercials, even aimed at women, have sexual connotations? After I read this book, I flipped through the resent Cosmo: the only ads that DO NOT have sexual connotations are the ones for tampons and pads. What's wrong with getting old? Why is every new wrinkle becomes such a tragedy for women? Why do women STILL, ten years after this book was first published, say, in numerous surveys, that they'd rather loose 20 pouns than achieved a personal/career goal? This book does make me angry. But it also makes me think, and look from a different perspective on the world. Definite must-read for all women.
Rating:
Summary: changed my life
Review: it was translated to hebrew lately. i just finished reading it now. i'm so glad i read it. its full of amazing ideas. important to weman of all ages. what can i say? read it.
Rating:
Summary: It's not about Beauty anyway
Review: Let me explain my circumstances while reading Beauty Myth. The book was used and someone made comments throughout the book in the margins. The comments enlivened the book a bit. The previous reader essentially called Wilde a whiner and a liar as the author presented her view of women as resentful, man-made beauty queens.
After thinking about Beauty Myth over a series of months, I find this book does overly victimize women. Women are not stupid. We buy the magazines, watch the news, watch commercials and watch the shows that continue to idolize the thin female. Women have money and money dictates what is acceptable.
No one is forcing women to look skinny. We're kidding ourselves. If we really wanted to start a revolution and dispel the Beauty Myth we'd stop watching soap operas, stop watching shows were the starlet is 10 pounds underweight, we'd stop buying magazines that tell us how to loose twenty pounds in 2 weeks and we'd stop making dewy eyes over merchandise that is sold by supermodels. Are we doing this? No.
We are telling the advertisers that want and need to make money that they don't need to change what they are doing, because we (educated women with money) are still buying.
This whole thing is not about Beauty anyway. It's truly about feeling loved. This is an ancient and eternal issue. It will not find resolve in books, but in the lone heart of a woman as she does battle and makes due with her self-esteem.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting read
Review: Naomi Wolf has written a passionate, involved book, that analyses the 'Beauty Myth' from a perspective that is first a woman's, and second a sociologist. While parts of this book are a bit extreme and political, on the whole it provides a new framework for thought, and many fascinating angles to consider in any discussion of beauty, culture or women's media. It is ironic that some of the criticism this book has received in these reviews ('Let her be ugly, or even average before she writes a book' , 'the way she throws her beautiful hair around') only goes to prove much of what Ms Wolf says - that her views as an author and a human being must be so inseperable from her looks, and that there is some quality of 'ugliness' that is absolute and which women should constantly strive to get out of. Feeling attractive is certainly every woman's right, but it is a feeling, not an absolute state. Anyone who has travelled out of America, and experienced diverse cultures, will testify to this.
Rating: 
Summary: Sentence by sentence, the stupidest book I've ever read
Review: Naomi Wolf was a lovely young slip of a girl when she wrote this remarkably brainless book. The only reason people paid attention to this idiotic book was because Naomi was young and hot-looking. It drove Camille Paglia insane that Naomi was being treated like she knew anything about life. Naomi has done a lot of growing up since then, and I imagine she must be pretty humiliated that people are still reading this deeply awful book.
Rating: 
Summary: The book distinguishes real vs. ideal.
Review: The Beauty Myth is an extrodianrily rare book. It focuses on how images of beauty are used against women by examining the figment all women measure themselves, and eachother, against - the Iron Maiden. The author, Naomi Wolf connects women's feelings of inferiority to the evidence they are dominated in religion, culture, and the workplace. Images of beauty in advertising and pornography contribute to the rise in cosmetic surgery and our society's obsession with thinness and perfection. The book attempts to illustrate how women are divided, as competetors for the scarce beauty there is that is recognized. Wolf presents a few great points and lots of supporting evidence. She lacks an interesting writing style, however, and hashes out the same point 200 pages too long. The Beauty Myth would make a moving essay, but as a book, beats a dead horse.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Flawed Central Thesis
Review: The first edition of this book had several factual errors and exaggerations. To her credit, Wolf has corrected some of these errors. However, the main thesis of her book, and a deeply flawed one at that, has remained unchanged. Wolf argues that having been scared by the increasing successes and power of women in the West, some men decided that the best way to put women in their rightful place is to occupy their thoughts with self-appearance and starve them.
Some concern with self-appearance is not difficult to understand. Humans have a basic aesthetic sense and desire attractive mates. Therefore, where one ranks on an attractiveness scale should be somewhat of a concern to many people because one realizes that others also desire attractive mates. Women often tend to be very selective with respect to choosing a male partner, and the men whom they desire, usually having their choice of women, will naturally go after the more attractive ones. Hence the reason many women are preoccupied with their looks...they want the best man they can obtain and know that men value beauty. If women were less choosy about men, they would need to be far less concerned about their looks because some men will sleep with almost anything. Surely, patriarchy cannot be blamed for making women choosy about men because most men would prefer that women have lower standards.
It is true that female high fashion models tend to be young and skinny; however, these models also tend to have multiple traits more typical of men, i.e., they tend to closely approximate the physique of adolescent boys. This should not be difficult to understand if one considers the fact that the typical high fashion designer is a male homosexual. See a newly published book in this regard: "The Nature of Homosexuality: Vindication for Homosexual Activists and the Religious Right." For a visual comparison of haute couture models vs. glamour models, see the supporting materials for this book at amazinginfoonhomosexuals.com.
Influenced by the high status of haute couture models, several women diet unnecessarily and may also indulge in excessive exercise. Male [...] fashion designers are to blame for this, not patriarchy. Once you control for the influence of high fashion models-courtesy male [...] fashion designers-and fashions, the beauty industry is largely responding to a mostly innate desire among women to make themselves attractive but is not generating this desire.
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