THE BEAUTY MYTH: A while ago, I skimmed Naomi Wolf’s well-known book. Wasn’t super impressed with it. I assume some of the stats that have been attacked by Wolf-detractors are bogus (e.g. how many women die of anorexia in the USA per year). Haven’t really looked into it.

But I do think the language of “the beauty myth” might be useful. Not as an attack on female beauty or beautification techniques. Most women are beautiful most of the time; and that beauty is comprised of as much art as nature. (“Art” here includes not just obvious stuff like clothes, makeup, and hairstyle, but also habits, demeanor, and carriage–do her eyes express curiosity, languor, amusement, or stoicism? Is she relaxed, or intense, or careworn?)

But it’s worth pointing out the ways in which social expectations and pressures warp our ability to notice and appreciate beauty. (And I’m speaking of female beauty here; the social expectations surrounding male looks are different enough that I’m not sure it’s helpful to speak of both together.) Women are (in general) divided into those who are encouraged to be vain, and those who (because they can’t meet cliched, conformist understandings of beauty) are encouraged to hold themselves in contempt. Meanwhile, guys are divided into those who are encouraged to be lustful, and those who (because they can’t or don’t “get girls”) are similarly encouraged to hold themselves in contempt. This seems like a situation that a Christian should rebel against as much as a feminist would–if not in the same way, and not with the same solutions.

Personally, I would address these problems in a range of ways–for example, encouraging kids to spend more time with art and/or literature, where their thirst for beauty and for role models will be slaked in a more complex, generous, and fulfilling way; teaching kids about the lives of the saints, which are so different that they provide potential role models for pretty much any personality type; pointing out that vanity and lust are, hello, wrong; and accurately naming tendencies in our culture and behavior that encourage vanity or lust. Just some random thoughts there.