BEAUTY SICK

How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women
- by Renee Engeln PhD

1. Terms vital for understanding the book

i. Cultural obsession:

The domination of one's culture by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

ii. Beauty sick:

When women’s emotional energy gets so bound up with what they see in the
mirror that it becomes harder for them to see other aspects of their lives

iii. Malignant Mainstream Media:

Idealized media images of women, beauty, sick culture, women's body etc.

iv. Internalized the mirror:

Making the mirror part of one's nature by learning or unconscious assimilation
v. Crinoline-heavy dresses:
A puffy dress meant for extremely thin girls

vi. Impersonate princesses

To copy the looks of a princess

vii. Busted faces

A YouTube term used to define ugly faces.

viii. global negative evaluation of body

It is the term used to explain negative thoughts about one’s own body.

ix. Tyranny of the Mirror

The cruel effect of the mirror.

x. Unvarnished reality

Plain reality.

xi. Unrelenting drive for thinness

It is the morbid fear of fatness.

xii. Anorexia

Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by an abnormally low body weight

and intense fear of gaining weight.

2. Summary of stories/anecdotes presented in the book which are helpful to

understanding the book

i. Description of ‘pretty’

Leigh might be a seven years old girl, but when she was asked to define the word
pretty’, she describes it as a girl having long hair, thin body and pretty face. A
question was asked about how can she describe what her body looks like? So she
answered that she can do a lot of things and she has good legs. She is then asked
what does she thinks about what is more important. Being pretty or being able to
do more things? To which she replies that she would prefer doing more things.
She was not sure if she will always think that way but she hope so.
ii. A beauty queen

Gabrielle, a thirty-three-year-old social worker and mother had unusual lessons

about beauty as she grew up. When the writer met her she was too pretty like a
women from the magazine. Her mother wouldn’t let her dress up as a girl whereas
her father told her that nothing matter other than beauty. As a teenager she ate low
calorie diets, bought makeup with food money and read Cosmogirl as if it was the
bible. She became beauty sick and now she dresses up like this ready for the
camera.

iii. The pretty twin

Identical twins are fascinating, after all they look exactly alike yet that was not the
case for Erin, a 26 years old art student. She always thought that her sister was
prettier because she was smaller. Family called her ‘the big twin’, which of course
she thought meant ugly or fat. She hit puberty rather earlier and started to gain
unnecessary attention and she didn’t wanted to be ‘looked-at’

iv. Worries of a feminist

Ana, a second year high school student, identifies herself as a body positive
feminist. She does enjoys makeup and cosmetics but she accepted her body, the
way it is. Though at times she do wonder about what do people think of her? She
died her hair pink to look bold yet she wonders what if people focus more on her
looks than her words? On top of that what if she, herself cares more about her
looks than her words. And that thought does break her confidence down.

3. passages from the book that communicate an important point made in the book

i. Too ugly to be seen in public. (pg. no. 9)

ii. Thinness is a key component of that prettiness. (pg. no. 15)
iii. She’s so skinny. She’s so toned. I’m, like, ‘Damn! I want that body (pg. no.
22)
iv. “Fifty-four percent of women would rather be hit by a truck than be fat. (pg.
no. 38)
v. Women are, like, objects. And if they’re not pretty and beautiful, then what
are they worth? (pg. no. 75)
vi. Girls learn—to associate being ladylike with sitting quietly on the sidelines of
life. (pg. no. 86)
 vii. “Isn’t it maybe good that women feel shame about their bodies? Maybe you
should feel bad if you gain weight. It could keep you from gaining weight.”
(pg. no. 97)
viii. They’re trying to “help” women by shaming them for their body size or shape
(pg. no. 113)
ix. “Don’t take off your makeup. Wear it when you sleep and swim.” (pg. no.
129)
x. “you are beautiful” (pg. no. 228)

4. Summary

I sometimes think I could take on the world,

but first . . .
Oh my God, my eyebrows need plucking
And oh my God, my legs need shaving
And my pores need cleansing and my skin needs toning
And my boobs need padding and my hair needs combing
—Siwan Clark, “The Armpit Song”

Central idea (thesis)

Every girl wants to be pretty and thin. Many women diet and adopt dangerous habits
to look like a model. Beauty sickness and standards of people are affecting girls in a
bad way. Every girl should accept her body to live a healthy life.

Introduction: Some women feel “too ugly to be seen in public.” (Student, 1997,
introduction, beauty sick). Many women are concerned with their looks but we are all
in this road together and should take care of each other

One. This is beauty sickness

1. Every girl’s dream is to be thin and pretty. They are suffering from beauty sickness.
Every time they look at the mirror, they think they are not good enough. It’s really not
their fault but we should blame the appearance obsessive culture. Somehow makeup
is considered to be more important than their future.
2. Girls want to be “like the magazines” (Gabrielle, 2017, just like a women).
Compared to men, women are much more effected by beauty sickness. Beauty
sickness is a barrier to gender equality. Women treat their body as an enemy, doing all
sorts of things to make it good enough. Beauty might be considered as a power but it
is temporary. Beauty sickness effects mental and physical health.
3. Our culture’s focus on girls’ and women’s appearance is making them sick
(Frederickson and Roberts, 1997, objectification theory, 55). The more girly she is,
 the more objectified she will become. People judge a women’s appearance, making
her feel like she is on display. As a result she unconsciously starts to judge other
people for their looks.

Two. This is what beauty sickness does to women

4. One of the most horrible expectations about a women is that if she is not pretty, she
won’t be worth anything. If she is under the observation of people all the time, she
also starts to monitor her own appearance. To avoid this, she maybe needs to change
her clothing style. She might feel more confident if she isn’t being ‘lady-like’ or by
reclaiming your mental space. This is done by thinking about something else rather
than counting calories.
5. Self-objectification leads to body shame. It only forces a women to make unhealthy
decisions. We don’t need to be thin, in order to be healthy. “What are you going to
do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy?” ( Jennifer Lawrence,
2013, flare magazine)
6. Beauty sickness takes a lot of time and money. Even though women earn less than
men they spend more just to improve their appearance. We need to discourage
appearance obsessed culture so that women can focus on more important things and
make a change in the world.

Three. This is how media feeds beauty sickness

7. Media plays a huge role in promoting unrealistic images of how girls should look like.
These images causes body dissatisfaction. But Women want to break free from the
media images.
8. Women spend more time on social media as compared to men. Social media is
focused on self-presentation. Which further promotes the unrealistic presentation of a
girl. To add fuel to the fire, women easily becomes a target of appearance based cyber
bullying.

Four. The Ways We’re Fighting Beauty Sickness Aren’t Working

9. Media literacy is not enough. Even though there are critics questioning unrealistic
beauty images everywhere but one weapon is not enough. So you need to turn your
eyes and thoughts away from the unrealistic images of women.
10. People take dove approaches if they sees someone crying about beauty, they tell her
that inner beauty matters the most and use words like ‘you are beautiful’. This method
is useless in encouraging women about beauty. So in order to be body positive, Think
less about being pretty rather than reassure yourself that you are beautiful.

She just wants to be beautiful

She goes unnoticed, she knows no limits
Maybe we have made her blind
 So she covers up her pain and cut her woes away
Cuz cover girls don’t cry, after the face is made
She don't see her perfect, she don't understand she's worth it
She has dreams to be an envy, so she's starving
You know, cover girls eat nothing
She says "beauty is pain and there's beauty in everything"
"What's a little bit of hunger?"
"I can go a little while longer,” she fades away
You should know that you are beautiful just the way are
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart

- Alessia Cara

5. Bonus question