Although this book came out last year, I’ve been turning to, In Your Face: The Culture of Beauty and You a lot lately while researching my latest project and each time I flip it open, I feel I must tell everyone I know about it.
I was lucky enough to first hear about In Your Face at the 2004 Book Expo and wrote a quick review for Canadian Bookseller magazine:
From Annick Press comes In Your Face: The Culture of Beauty and You by Shari Graydon. Following up on her success with Made You Look, Graydon tackles the myths and false promises that lie at the heart of our culture obsessed with beauty. Graydon tells it like it is, revealing the truths about the double standards and constant competition we all engage in as we strive to be beautiful. In Your Face is easily the most important book for teens this year and should be read by everyone who looks in the mirror each morning.
This morning I discovered that Annick Press has built an In Your Face mini-site. Like the book, it is definitely worth checking out. The site highlights some of the darkest secrets that our culture holds as it pushes us all toward the one ideal of beauty:
Too Ethnic?
Some Asian people seek plastic surgery to make their eyes more ?Western?. Around the world products like hair straighteners and skin whiteners have been flying off the shelves for decades. Why the craze to look Caucasian? Although people of colour make up 50 % of the population in many large North American cities, most mainstream magazines, movies and TV shows feature overwhelmingly white actors and models.
If you happen to know anyone, boy or girl, who is in their teens, then this book is simply an essential addition to your library. Buy it, drop it on the kitchen counter and let them discover it for themselves. I’ll bet you’ll see them flip it open, browse through quickly, ready to judge and then quietly take the book into their rooms. You’ll never see it again, but that’s a good thing. They’ll be reading it and gaining some very strong defences against the relentless beauty machine that is our modern culture.
tagged: [culture] [beauty] [consumerism] [books]
