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
Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when deciding what provokes it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that societal perceptions of beauty can lead to harassment, which is influenced by subjective viewpoints.
Naomi Wolf's quote highlights the complex relationship between beauty and societal norms, asserting that while there are laws intended to protect individuals from harassment, the interpretation of what constitutes provocation often relies on a male perspective. This gendered lens can distort the understanding of beauty, leading to troubling behaviors that challenge the respect and dignity of individuals.
Themes
BeautyHarassmentPerceptionSocietyGender
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about gender equality during a women's rights seminar.
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.
Naomi WolfRead
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.
Naomi WolfRead
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.
Naomi WolfRead
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.
Naomi WolfRead
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