The Western Beauty Myth

Dr Nazreen Nawaz, UK

PaperBack, 40 Pages
12.9 x 19.8 cm
MaktabaIslamia Publications 

It is important to understand that the image that a woman aspires to attain represents much more than how she wishes to present herself to the world physically. It represents the identity of how she views life and of how she wishes to live her life.

Naomi Wolf in her book, ‘The Beauty Myth’, writes, “The qualities that a given period calls beautiful in women are merely symbols of the female behavior that that period considers desirable: The beauty myth is always actually prescribing behavior and not appearance”.

Western women have become pre-occupied with the concepts of beauty, image and appearance. They mistakenly associate beauty with success, confidence and being valued and respected in the society.

With these above points in mind, the author examines whether the image and identity of the Western woman is really what the woman, Muslim or non-Muslim, should aspire towards. We should understand whether she is really free to look and dress how she chooses or whether she needs to conform to certain societal expectations. Has the quest for beauty instilled within her confidence and led to her being valued and respected in the society? Is it a myth or not?

This book is also available on other websites, in case you cannot find it on the above link, we recommend you search on the internet as well.