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

(Paperback)

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[Beauty Sick] will blow the top off the body image movement...provocative and necessary.Rebellious Magazine

An award-winning 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 Peggy Orenstein and Sheryl Sandberg.

Todays young women face a bewildering set of contradictions when it comes to beauty. They dont want to be Barbie dolls but, like generations of women before them,are toldthey must look like them. Theyre angry about the medias treatment of women but hungrily consume the outlets that belittle them. They mock modern cultures absurd beauty ideal and make videos exposing Photoshopping tricks, butfeel pressuredto emulate the same images they criticize by posing with a "skinny arm." They understand that what they see isnt real but still download apps to airbrush their selfies. Yet these same young women are fierce fighters for the issues they care about. They are ready to fight back against their beauty-sick culture and create a different world for themselves, but they need a way forward.

In Beauty Sick, Dr. Renee Engeln, whose TEDx talk on beauty sickness has received more than 250,000 views, reveals the shocking consequences of our obsession withgirls appearance on their emotional and physical health and their wallets and ambitions, including depression, eating disorders, disruptions in cognitive processing, and lost money and time. Combining scientific studies with the voices of real women of all ages, she makes clear that to truly fulfill their potential, we must break free fromcultural forces that feeddestructive desires, attitudes, and wordsfrom fat-shaming to denigrating commentary about other women. She provides inspiration and workable solutions to helpgirls and womenovercome negative attitudes and embrace their whole selves, to transform their lives, claim the futures they deserve, and, ultimately, change their world.

Reviews

Girls learn that how they look is more important than who they arethe essential symptom of beauty sickness. But Engeln doesnt stop at diagnosis: she offers the possibility of a cure. Peggy Orenstein, New York Times bestselling author ofGirls & Sex Her solid ideas...will help women think positively about themselves regardless of body shape. Thorough research and helpful personal stories effectively relay the dilemma that nearly all women face on a daily basis. Kirkus Reviews [Beauty Sick] will blow the top off the body image movementprovocative and necessary. Rebellious Magazine Renee Engeln...argues that our obsession with womens looks amounts to a society-wide psychological illness...The book indicts social and news media in helping to create beauty sickness by drawing on research and interviews with real-world girls and women. Pacific Standard [P]rofessor Engelns sharp examination of beauty sickness reveals its disturbing impact on women of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds...Engelns writing is engaging and conversational...Engelns book is thought provoking and will be fascinating for all readers, especially those interested in psychology, cultural studies, media, or gender studies. Booklist (starred review) Engelns new book, Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession With Appearance Hurts Girls and Women (Harper), explores the ways we remind womenyoung and oldthat the most important thing they can be is beautiful. Chicago Tribune Inspiring. PureWow Info-packed...highly readable... Elle Beauty Sick is the title of Engelns new book, which has more than 350 pages of exhaustive research, interviews, and analysis into the set of contradictions that inform the reality of millions of womens lives. The Times (London)

Author Bio

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.