The Duchess of Windsor once remarked, "A woman cannot be too rich or too thin." The first half of her observation might apply to men as well, but certainly not the second. The answer lies in the fact that the vast majority of ads placed by by the cosmetic industry and the diet industry target women.
Certain cultural patterns create a "beauty myth" that is damaging to women. The beauty myth arises, first, because society teaches women to measure their worth in terms of physical appearance. Yet the standards of beauty embodied in the Playboy centerfold or the 100-pound New York fashion model are out of reach for most women.
The way society teaches women to prize relationships with men, whom they presumably attract with their beauty, also contribute to the beauty myth. Striving for beauty drives women to be extremely disciplined but also forces them to be highly attune and responsive to men. In short, beauty-minded women try to please men and avoid challenging male power.
Belief in the beauty myth is one reason that so many young women are forced on body image, particularly being as thin as possible, often to the point of endangering their health. During the past several decades, the share of young women who develop an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa (dieting to the point of starvation) or bulimia ( binge eating followed by vomiting) has risen dramatically.
The beauty myth affects male as well. Men are told repeatedly that they should want to posses beautiful women. Such idea about beauty reduce women to objects and motivate thinking about women as if they were dolls or pets rather than human being.
"There can be a little doubt that the idea of beauty is important in everyday life."
