Minou

anotherhookerblog:

“The asymmetry of the beauty myth tells men and women lies about each other’s bodies, to keep them sexually estranged.”

—

Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth (via girlthatread)

I loved this book when I was a teenager because, you know, I was a teenager and she’s a beautiful writer. Sometimes I am more kind to Wolf than I should be just because of lingering warm feelings. I read Promiscuities in college and I still think about it a lot. It’s a compelling and also a really important document of fucked up sexual dynamics in the upper strata of educated white femininities, which is honestly pretty useful to a lot of the on-campus anti-rape organizing that I do.

But sometimes, sometimes. I return to things from The Beauty Myth and (not only because of, but certainly in light of, how we know she’s the worst*)

sometimes I’m just like

wat.

What is this even? I am most interested in The Beauty Myth as a stylized relic of a certain between-wave public feminism, but I right now I can’t even with her. I can’t even.

(*every time a white feminist does something totally unforgivable to white women everyone is like I NEVER SAW IT COMING! when really lots of people saw problematic stuff about them forever. this is a problem. just thought i’d mention. but also, that HuffPo piece is one of the most upsetting things i have ever read and i just, i just, i just.)

Re-read this maybe 12 months ago and there are lots of problematic bits…however I honour this book as one that was important and positive for me when I was much younger. I would have gotten a boob job for sure had I not read this back then.

(via anotherhookerblog-deactivated20)