A culture fixation on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.
Naomi WolfRead
From 1970 onwards, our culture told both sexes that individual expression was paramount. And for women, that was defined as the right to choose an interesting a career, a high-status mate, the desirable handbag or vacation, the perfect family size, and a definitionally fruitless quest for 'perfection.'
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the societal pressure on women to seek individual expression through superficial choices while suggesting this pursuit can lead to a sense of emptiness.
Naomi Wolf highlights how cultural narratives from 1970 onwards have shaped women's identities, linking their personal fulfillment to choices such as careers, relationships, and lifestyle instead of deeper, meaningful achievements. This emphasis on individual expression, while giving women a sense of freedom, can paradoxically create an unattainable standard of perfection that leaves many feeling unfulfilled.
Themes
Individual ExpressionSocietal PressureWomenIdentityPerfection
In practice
Example use cases
In discussions about gender roles and societal expectations during a seminar.
More from Naomi Wolf
All quotes →Looking back on 200 years of feminist agitation in this country, we've got to get it that the moral high ground doesn't get us anything. Pleading with powerful men never gets us what we need. Talking doesn't do it. Being right doesn't do it. Hardball politics does it ... and a political strategy.
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The more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon them.
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The woman wins who calls herself beautiful, and challenges the world to change to fit her vision.
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The beauty myth moves for men as a mirage; its power lies in its ever-receding nature. When the gap is closed, the lover embraces only his own disillusion.
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Our society does reward beauty on the outside over health on the inside. Women must not be blamed for choosing short-term beauty "fixes" that harm our long-term health, since our life spans are inverted under the beauty myth, and there is no great social or economic incentive for women to live a long time.
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