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 womenβs history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.
Naomi WolfRead
Women have face-lifts in a society in which women without them appear to vanish from sight.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the societal pressure on women to conform to beauty standards, suggesting that aging or natural appearances are often overlooked.
Naomi Wolf's quote reflects on the intense societal expectations and pressures that women face regarding their appearance. It underscores the idea that in contemporary culture, the pursuit of youth and beauty has become so paramount that women who do not engage in practices like face-lifts are marginalized or ignored. This commentary prompts a critical examination of how society values women primarily based on their looks rather than their inherent worth or contributions.
Themes
WomenBeautySocietyAppearancePressure
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a women's empowerment speech to discuss beauty standards.
More from Naomi Wolf
All quotes βLooking 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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