

Their lives took shape around attributes like work aptitude, physical strength and fertility – not beauty. The beauty myth is the final mechanism of cultural ideology with the power to control women, women who have otherwise been liberated to freely pursue their desires.īefore the Industrial Revolution, the social value of women was measured largely by their work within the domestic sphere. If anything, women with more power and status are scrutinized more and the pressure to look beautiful only gets worse. Even with all their achievements and success, the pressure to look good doesn’t cease.

For instance, that beauty is an inherently good and beneficial quality and that, without it, women are worthless and invisible.Ĭonsider women who are at the top of their professions. The beauty myth claims that there is an elusive quality called “beauty” – a quality that women should do everything in their power to pursue, achieve and maintain. These images are being used with growing efficiency to work against the progress women have made, creating what is known as a beauty myth. But even though women have gained legal and reproductive rights, as well as more freedom to pursue higher education and enter previously male-dominated professions, there has also been some backlash.Īs women have made legal and economic strides over the past 50 years, we’ve also seen an increase in detrimental portrayals of female beauty. The women’s rights movement has made significant progress in the past few decades.
