Introduction

This introduction presents an overall view of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. This book attempts to identify some of the 'forces which maintain the subordination of women to men' in relation to beauty practices. In Beauty and Misogyny, author suggests that beauty practices are not about women's individual choice or a 'discursive space' for women's creative expression, but, as other radical feminist theorists have argued before me, a most important aspect of women's oppression. The author shall seek to make sense of why beauty practices are not only just as pervasive 30 years after the feminist critique developed, but also in many ways more extreme. This concept provides a good lens through which to examine practices that are harmful to women in the West, such as beauty practices. This provides a good opportunity to show that 'feminine' beauty practices are not natural or confined to women.