Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women

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A fascinating book on the joys of discovering how the world works, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Cosmos and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. Hyper focusing on how we look takes away our ability to be compassionate, to see clearly who we and other people are and what we and others need. Take a careful look around you the next time you’re walking in a crowded area. If you pay close attention, you’ll see women of myriad body shapes and sizes, hair colors, facial features, and ages. It’s easy to forget the actual landscape of women’s appearances, because the range of what we see in media is so narrow.”

Chronic body monitoring is a ridiculous price to pay for fashion, but as women, we pay it all the time in dozens of different ways. I don’t want young women to feel shame about their bodies. I don’t want them to be called sluts when they wear what fashion moguls have decided to be the in style of the season. They should be able to wear whatever they are comfortable wearing. But how comfortable are they? We should have the freedom to dress how we see fit, but we should also have the freedom to be present in the moment. If we are to monitor ourselves, I want us to be able to monitor our thoughts and feelings, our desires and goals, not our appearance.”

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Renee Engeln, PhD, is an award-winning professor of psychology at Northwestern University. Her work has appeared in numerous academic journals and at academic conferences, and she speaks to groups across the country. She is regularly interviewed by the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Today.com, the Huffington Post, Think Progress, and other national media, as well as local outlets and college student publications. Her TEDx talk at the University of Connecticut has more than 450,000 views on YouTube. She lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Dr. Renee Engeln is a professor at Northwestern University, where she teaches about psychopathology, the psychology of women and gender, social psychology, and the psychology of human beauty. She is an award-winning professor, having amassed over a dozen teaching awards at both Loyola University and Northwestern. We preach body confidence, but we live in a culture that doesn’t quite know what to do with a woman who actually likes the way she looks. It’s considered arrogant and even unfeminine. Think of the recent hit One Direction song that made the claim that a woman was beautiful precisely because she didn’t know she was beautiful. We need to question a culture that tells women they must be beautiful to be loved, but that they shouldn’t actually feel beautiful or we’ll find them conceited.” An award-winning psychology professor reveals how the cultural obsession with women's appearance is an epidemic that harms women's ability to get ahead and to live happy, meaningful lives, in this powerful, eye-opening work in the vein of Peggy Orenstein and Sheryl Sandberg. Hemos creado una cultura que les dice a las mujeres que lo más importante que pueden conseguir es ser guapas. Y a continuación las machacamos con un estándar de belleza al que nunca llegarán.”

The thing is--Engeln had some good ideas, and I think her thesis as a whole is something that is worth looking in to. Non ci vogliamo veramente far mancare nulla, come sempre siamo troppo avanti in materia di femminismo. Award-winning Northwestern University psychology professor Dr. Renee Engeln reveals how the cultural obsession with women's appearance is an epidemic that harms their ability to get ahead and to live happy, meaningful lives, in this powerful, eye-opening work in the vein of Naomi Wolf, Peggy Orenstein, and Sheryl Sandberg.

I found this to be remarkably sage advice from the author's grandfather: "Never be too proud of your youth or your beauty. You did nothing to earn them and you can do nothing to keep them." This was a really interesting read that has me thinking a lot about how I talk to other women. It is second nature to compliment something about how another girl or woman looks, but I'm trying to jump to more important things in my conversations. Here are my notes on the book, mostly for myself so I can remember it for later. There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it's haunting Harry Potter's dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?If you want to compliment a girl or woman, compliment her on something she can actually control. Reinforce the idea that being hardworking, focused, kind, creative, and generous matter. None of these qualities require any particular body shape or hairstyle. Tell her you notice how much effort she puts into the things she cares about. Tell her that you enjoy spending time with her because she is interesting. Tell her that she inspires you and then explain why or how.” I particularly admired Engeln’s criticism of the highly lauded Dove beauty campaign. She broke down exactly why the campaign is not empowering. I already agreed with Engeln, and her examination only reinforced that agreement. Dove has good intentions, but, as Engeln explained, the company is misguided and its campaign problematic. Also enlightening is her very needed argument against fat shaming as motivation to lose weight and the parts on the influence of parenting and self-objectification (especially pertinent). To all people really - a must read for personal development, cultural understanding and self compassion. Recently I was with friends & plastic surgery came up— one said since everyone is doing it, it’s only a matter of time we do too, otherwise we’ll “fall behind.” Another agreed & said her job depends on it. While I vehemently disagreed, I sadly understood where their thinking came from— we do live in a world where beauty is currency & is often valued above most else.

Ah, naturalmente al posto dello specchio in frantumi della copertina originale, simbolo della liberazione della donna dall'ossessione per l'aspetto fisico, in Italia ci hanno messo un bel torso femminile con il metro da sarta intorno a misurare meticolosamente il punto vita. I love the idea, the message and the stories of interviewees but the writing style of this book is not my favorite. An award-winning Northwestern University psychology professor reveals how the culturalobsession with women's appearanceis an epidemic that harms women's ability to get ahead and to live happy, meaningful lives, in this powerful, eye-opening work in the vein of Naomi Wolf, Peggy Orenstein, and Sheryl Sandberg.I have often said that there's a handbook for boys and a handbook for girls but it's unfair that the boys handbook doesn't say anything about girls while the girls handbook includes the boys handbook in its entirety. I know that's just my own silly idea, But what I enjoyed so much about this book is I feel like I really gain some insight into The pressure that women and girls face. I also gained insight into how the culture how of the world, USA particulary, can be so detrimental to women and girls. This toxic environment is sometimes self inflicted, Not always intentional and not always with malice but there is a hill to climb nonetheless. Also, CICO isn't going to not work because of your magical metabolism. You're eating less/more than you think, or you're a fidgeter, or you walk around a lot more, et cetera et cetera et cetera. An award-winning psychology professor reveals how the cultural obsession with women's appearance is an epidemic that harms women's ability to get ahead and to live happy, meaningful lives, in this powerful, eye-opening work in the vein of Peggy Orenstein and Sheryl Sandberg. Talk positively about what your body can do and talk with your kids about what their bodies can do. Reading this book made me excited to talk with my kids about things that we love that our bodies can do. I would like to say, "My body made you! My body allows me to cuddle with you guys, go on walks, laugh, read, swing, bake, and write. I like to do things that give me energy and that will help my body have energy and feel good for a long time so that I can keep doing things with our family. What do you like about your body?" Would i hate this about myself if i was born completely alone. Stranded on a island. Is a question that i asked myself a lot in 2022. It helped me recognize the absurdity in my insecurities, and helped me with my decision making, moving forward with my life.