The Beauty Myth

The “Religion” chapter is one of the most extensive in The Beauty Myth. Wolf tackles what she considers the patriarchal aspects of major religions like Christianity, the historic links between beauty and religion, and the “new religion” of the beauty myth embedded in mass culture. Wolf argues that this new religion draws upon Christian themes such as original sin and disseminates them to control women psychologically through media like product advertising. The author refers to this as the “Church of Beauty,” with the beauty myth as its gospel (86). In an era where organized religion has waning importance, the beauty myth steps as a method for controlling women. She also underscores what she describes as the prevalent “antiwoman bias of the Judeo-Christian tradition” throughout the chapter (92).

First, Wolf examines the “metaphysical similarities” between religious rites and those of commodified beauty. At times, Catholic language makes its way into advertising copy, with references to “crusades” against weight loss and “miracle” products. These similarities are not coincidental because they directly borrow from old faiths to construct a new “religion” used to control women with tried and tested symbols and strategies. This religion has emerged as women gain more power in the public sphere because “oppression abhors vacuum” (89).