Book: The beauty myth: stereotypes against women

Feminine qualities in a certain historical period, which was considered "beautiful" are nothing like the stereotypes of female behavior, which in this particular era was the most desirable.

"Beauty" is not universal or changeless, though the West pretend that the ideals of female beauty go back to Plato's ideal woman. For example, the Polynesian Maori population admires the female fullness, and the nation padung - sagging Breasts. Is "beauty" and the result of evolution its ideals change much faster. Even Charles Darwin himself was not up to the end convinced of the rightness of his theory that "beauty" is the result of "sexual selection", which, in turn, is a departure from the law of natural selection. The competition of women among themselves, using "beauty" as a weapon of struggle is the antithesis of the process of natural selection, involving all other types of mammals.

"Beauty" is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any other economic system, it is determined by political interests, and in the modern Western world is the latest and the most advanced philosophical doctrine, is able to keep the firmness of male dominance.

... Germaine Greer has described the stereotype of women: "She owns all beautiful, even the word beauty... She is a doll... I'm sick of this masquerade."

In 1855, suffragette Lucy stone said: "I not have the right to vote, right of ownership etc., if I can't be a full owner of her body."

... the role of the new cultural censors in women the intellectual space has taken the industry of weight loss and cosmetic industry. Under their pressure, the benchmark of successful women was a slender young model, forcing the image of the happy housewife. The sexual revolution liberated women's sexuality, but "beautiful" pornography is immediately tied with her turned into a commodity of beauty, and this idea captured the minds of the masses, became the dominant worldview and undermined yet fully formed and therefore vulnerable sexual self-esteem of the women. The acquisition of rights in matters of procreation gave Western women control over our bodies, but it led only to the fact that the weight of the models was 23% below the average normal weight women and eating disorders have become a widespread phenomenon. Every effort is made to enhance the mass psychosis on the subject of nutrition and weight, and thus again to deprive women of a sense of control over themselves and their lives.

After all, we are in the midst of a fierce struggle against feminism and promotion of women ahead, a struggle in which the main political weapon are the images of female beauty, in other words, the beauty myth. It is a modern kind of public pressure that emerged after the industrial revolution. When women were freed from house arrest and ceased to be exclusively a housewife, the beauty myth has gained new strength and began actively to strengthen its position, taking on the function of social control over women's lives. An unprecedented onslaught of the myth of beauty is due to the fact that this is the last of the old ideologies that may still keep women in subjection. Otherwise, under the influence of the second wave of feminism they would become truly independent and would have got out of control. The beauty myth became a means of pressure and coercion, replacing the outdated myths about motherhood, the home, purity and passivity. And now he seeks to undermine all that women achieved through the feminist movement. This force seeks to destroy every legacy of feminism in all aspects of women's lives in Western countries.

The results of the last sociological survey show that in the minds of most attractive and successful working women in Western countries who, seemingly, fully in control of your life, always present to take, to deprive them of the feeling of genuine freedom. This feeling of self-hatred, obsessive complexes about their appearance, fear of aging and loss of control over their lives, which arise under the influence of the imposed concepts of beauty.

To replace the progressive movement came confusion, alienation, cynicism, and worst of all, exhaustion and fatigue. After many years of violent struggle in the lack of recognition, many older women feel exhausted and exhausted. A youth, accustomed to perceive the achievements of feminism for granted, not seeking to rekindle the extinguished torch in the struggle for their liberation.

In our time men of all ages and levels of wealth (regardless of sexual orientation) are concerned about their appearance much more than some 10 years ago. But can it be called progress that both sexes are transformed into goods and are valued as objects?

The more strong position occupied by women in political life, the more pressure on them, ideals of beauty, mainly in order to divert their attention and redirect their energy in another direction, stopping their forward movement.

Beauty is not connected with sex or with love. Even if a woman possesses beauty in itself, this does not bring her love, though the beauty myth claims that it must bring.

Representation that existed in the XIX century, today, seem strange to us: how women could make to believe that menstruation, Masturbation, pregnancy and menopause are diseases? However, now women are forced to believe that some totally healthy and normal part of their body in need of correction, and they believe in it, and no one wants to give a sober assessment of this terrifying phenomenon.

The tendency to resort to surgical correction created culture, which denies any chest, except the one that is "officially recognized". This culture calls what is left from the image of the female breast after redaction, "sexy", hide from women the truth about their own bodies and invites them for a few thousand dollars for substandard services to replace their breast that approved by the society.