quote · Legacy record
The beauty myth of the present is more insidious than any mystique of femininity yet: A century ago, Nora slammed the door of the doll's house; a generation ago, women turned their backs on the consumer heaven of the isolated multiapplianced home; but where women are trapped today, there is no door to slam. The contemporary ravages of the beauty backlash are destroying women physically and depleting us psychologically. If we are to free ourselves from the dead weight that has once again been made out of femaleness, it is not ballots or lobbyists or placards that women will need first; it is a new way to see.
The beauty myth of the present is more insidious than any mystique of femininity yet: A century ago, Nora slammed the door of the doll's house; a generation ago, women turned their backs on the consumer heaven of the isolated multiapplianced home; but where women are trapped today, there is no door to slam. The contemporary ravages of the beauty backlash are destroying women physically and depleting us psychologically. If we are to free ourselves from the dead weight that has once again been made out of femaleness, it is not ballots or lobbyists or placards that women will need first; it is a new way to see.
Approximate author period: c. 1962 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- Naomi Wolf
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1962 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from documented birth year 1962; activity date not established; Wikidata Q237875, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q237875 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 90460; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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