ABSTRACT
This chapter looks critically at the way that neoliberalism is shaping trends in beauty. It argues that beauty pressures are intensifying, extending over new times, places, and sites of the body, and also moving “inside” in the form of injunctions to be confident, resilient, and to fashion a positive mental attitude. Although there are seeming counter-trends that include a diversification of notions of beauty, the chapter argues that the injunction to be beautiful is tightening rather than loosening its grip. The chapter is located theoretically in discussions of neoliberalism and postfeminism, and it also introduces the notion of “aesthetic entrepreneurship.”
