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The Cult of Beauty: How Society Forces Women to Change Their Bodies

14.99 €
In stock
The Cult of Beauty: How Society Forces Women to Change Their Bodies
14.99 €
In basket
"With a figure like that, you shouldn't wear that." "Your waist is a problem area." "She looks good for her age." Women are constantly told that there's something wrong with their bodies, that they need to be improved, controlled, and corrected. The way we walk, sit, give birth, and even hold a spoon depends on era, place, and upbringing, yet we stubbornly consider our habits natural and our tastes individual.

Philosopher Anastasia Toropova explores how culture, ideology, and economics shape the notion of the normal body: from the ancient Greek woman as a "weak man" and the corset as an instrument of social inequality to Kim Kardashian as the ideal body of consumer society. The pages of her captivating book juxtapose David Lynch and Aristotle, Nadezhda Kadysheva and Charli XCX, Olga Buzova and Descartes, Pinterest syndrome, and uterine breathing.

By analyzing fashion, advertising, spiritual practices, dating, and social media, the author shows how everyday rituals shape our physicality—and why it’s so difficult to distinguish between our own body and someone else’s.
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