“FACE VALUE is particularly apt for a generation of women who came of age with glossies…The most striking section of the book is imagining how that fresh sobriety felt.” “Using personal interviews and scientific studies, the book is informative, intriguing, and relevant.” “a non-fiction survey of the way women interact with beauty standards today, invites women to explore their relationship to beauty culture, beyond the surfaces… Whitefield-Madrano sought to understand how beauty affects women on a deeper level: what it means, how it appears in our culture, the role it plays in our lives.” “A surprising take on the role of beauty.Citing research and examining everything from compliments (is 'cute' a dis?) to photoshopping, the author comes to a provocative conclusion: The REAL beauty myth might be that caring about appearance is bad for us.” Provocative and empowering, it celebrates a relaxed brand of feminism, one in which it’s equally okay to feel fierce in your fake eyelashes and confident when going makeup-free.įace Value is “an immensely valuable work, one that seamlessly-and impressively-combines the tropes of the academic lit review and the memoir and the work of cultural criticism into an engaging, and timely, follow-up to The Beauty Myth” ( The Atlantic). Through meticulous research and interviews with dozens of women across all walks of life, she reveals surprising findings, like wearing makeup can actually relax you, you can convince people you’re better looking just by tweaking your personality, and the ways beauty can be a powerful tool of connection among women. But in Face Value, journalist Autumn Whitefield-Modrano dispels this one-sided beauty myth and examines the relationship between appearance and science, social media, sex, friendship, language, and advertising to show how beauty actually affects us day to day. We worry primping and preening are a distraction and a trap. We feel insecure in the face of retouched, impossibly-perfect images.

“A fascinating look” ( The Boston Globe) at how we think and talk about beauty in the twenty-first century-and the unexpected and often positive way that beauty shapes our lives.įor decades, we’ve thought of beauty as a negative influence in our lives.

Face Value by Autumn Whitefield-Madrano