Face

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Face is a book of fictional vignettes that examines the fear and vestigial evolutionary habits that have caused women and men to cultivate the imagined reality that older womens faces are unattractive, undesirable, and something to be 'fixed.'

Based on "older face" experiences of the author, Justine Bateman, and those of dozens of women and men she interviewed, the book presents the reader with the many root causes for societys often negative attitudes toward womens older faces. In doing so, Bateman rejects those ingrained assumptions about the necessity of fixing older womens faces, suggesting that we move on from judging someones worth based on the condition of her face.

With impassioned prose and a laser-sharp eye, Bateman argues that a woman's confidence should grow as she ages, not be destroyed by society's misled attitude about that one square foot of skin.

Reviews

[Bateman] studies the topic of women and aging in her new book Face: One Square Foot of Skin. --People

The actor and author of Face: One Square Foot of Skin wants to push back against the ubiquity of plastic surgery. --Vanity Fair

Through a selection of short stories, [Bateman] examines just how complicated it is for women to get older, both in and out of the spotlight.
--Glamour

[Bateman is] putting an inspiring spin on aging by celebrating her face just as it is. Leaving us with an inspired State of Mind! --Maria Schriver's Sunday Paper

Bateman asks, what if we just rejected the idea that older faces need fixing. What if we ignored all the clanging bells that remind women every day on every platform that we are in some kind of endless battle with aging. --TIME

[Bateman] argues that American society has long equated the signs of aging on a woman's face with unattractiveness. But she also asserts that women need not participate in such prejudice by accepting and internalizing it.
--AARP

Face: One Square Foot of Skin [is] a creative nonfiction tome about the ways society responds to women as they age . . . [Bateman] said she was compelled to take a deeper look at the unfair expectations placed on women, particularly women in the public eye like her, as they grow older.
--Hollywood Reporter

Right on, Justine Bateman. Thanks for helping us embrace our faces just as they are. --Upworthy

Brave, brilliant, and unflinchingly honest, Justine is that writer you trust because she goes after every subject with a warrior's focus, and throws herself to the lions while she's at it. It doesn't hurt that she's a gorgeous woman who hasn't tried to erase an ounce of history from her face. I love the way she thinks, and am amazed at the many sublayers she manages to excavate while everyone else is scratching the surface.
--Mary-Louise Parker, author of Dear Mr. You

[Bateman] recounts her own experiences and interviews more than 20 other individuals to present a series of fictional vignettes that argue that women's aging faces should be viewed as beautiful--the proof of complex lives well lived. --Alta Journal

A much-needed viewpoint on an important and seemingly universal issue. --Manhattan Book Review

Author Bio

Justine Bateman is a writer/director/producer with an impressive, decades-long rsum in film and TV that includes a Golden Globe nomination and two Emmy nominations. Bateman wrote and produced her directorial film short debut, Five Minutes, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival and was chosen by seven more festivals, including the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Violet, Bateman's critically acclaimed directorial feature film debut of her own script, stars Olivia Munn, Luke Bracey, and Justin Theroux, and was an official selection at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival and the 2021 Toronto Film Festival. Her best-selling first book, Fame: The Hijacking of Reality, was published in 2018 by Akashic.