In Your Face: The Culture of Beauty and You

by Shari Graydon

"In our factory, we make lipstick; in our advertising, we sell hope."
- Charles Revson, founder of Revlon Cosmetics More money is spent on beauty products in the United States annually than on over $6 billion on makeup alone. From bedtime fairytales and blockbuster movies to magazine advertisements and reality TV, we absorb the lesson early -- being beautiful is the answer to our dreams. For pre-teens and teens, the pursuit of fitting in and measuring up feels like an essential survival strategy. Never before have so many messages offered so many unattainable ideals. With In Your Face , Shari Graydon encourages readers to look critically at the culture of beauty of both past and present. Whether it's the different standards for guys versus girls, the assumptions we all have about models and celebrities, or the message that the right makeup can make you a better person, Graydon's look into the realities of our ideals will help kids face up to the culture of beauty and the beauty industry hype. Accompanied by lively visuals, including sharp comic-style vignettes and photos from our beauty culture, this book will captivate readers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2004

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book that I feel was geared towards pre-teen and teenage girls. The artwork was pop-y and colorful. The information was good and there were a few facts that I didn't know before, though the citation could have been a bit better. I'm not exactly the target demographic, having come into a place of peace with my body a while ago, but it would have definitely been useful when I was younger and less sure of myself. Excellent book. I would recommend it for a young lady who is experiencing doubts about her looks and place in life.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

My thanks to NetGalley and Annick Press Ltd. for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

[thebookwormscorner · Rating 5 out of 5]

'In Your Face' is a fantastic look into the beauty world. The positives, the negatives, and the controversies behind it. For years the beauty industry has been changing, with standards that are beyond impossible to reach. Many young women are sucked into websites that promote women with surgically enhanced bodies and making it seem like it's a obtainable goal, when it reality it's all fake.
I really loved how the author broke everything down, from the different decades, different fashion, with colorful graphics and illustrations. The author didn't sound bias to me, if anything she made you think, she broke everything down for you, and fed you facts. I think that's something admirable about this book. I believe any girl/young lady/woman who picks up this book will go into reading this with an actual eye opening experience.

[Dawn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Your Face The Culture of Beauty and You by Shari Graydon

172 Pages
Publisher: Annick Press Ltd, Annick Press
Release Date: August 19, 2014

Nonfiction, Health, Mind, Body, Spirit, Teens, Young Adult, Social Science

The book is divided into the following parts.

Chapter 1 – Once Upon A Time
Chapter 2 – The Eye of the Beholder
Chapter 3 – The Young and the Healthy
Chapter 4 – Suffering is Optional
Chapter 5 – Double Standard
Chapter 6 – Beauty Power
Chapter 7 – Opportunity or Knocks?
Chapter 8 – Competition 24/7
Chapter 9 – Flogging Fantasies
Chapter 10 – Beyond Image

The book discusses appearances and body image. She addresses how a person loos can benefit or hinder how other people treat them. For example, beautiful people are treated better in social and legal situations. One topic that really struck me was how little girls playing with Barbies believe they must look like her to be liked and successful. I was pleasantly surprised to find the author included boys and superhero body image issues. That topic is not addressed enough. This is an excellent book especially for girls and young women.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting reading how what is considered attractive has changed over the years.

[Gio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beauty is powerful. It’s transformative. It doesn’t just affect our looks, but also our state of mind. When we like how we look, we feel good. We’re ready to face whatever challenges come our way with confidence and a smile on our faces. We can conquer the world. But when we feel ugly, and stress about every perceived flaw, our self-esteem plummets to the ground and nothing ever seems to go right. We start believing we’re not good enough and give up our dreams.

In today’s world, feeling good about the way we look is harder and harder. The beauty industry has set standards that are impossible to achieve for everyone, and then sells us products that promise, by making us look pretty, to solve all our problems. And its customers are getting younger and younger. From fairytale to social media, from TV shows to magazines, young girls are bombarded with the message that being beautiful is the only thing that matters in life. But what does beautiful mean?

With “In Your Face,” a book aimed at teens but that every woman who doesn’t like the way she looks should read too, Shari Graydon encourages readers to answer this question and to think critically about all the beauty messages we are exposed to every day. Graydon explains how companies make money by preying on our insecurities about the way we look, the different standards for guys and girls, how the concept of beauty has changed throughout the centuries, how social media has increased the pressure to look good, and much more. Graydon also wonders if being beautiful is a good thing. We assume that beautiful people have it easy, but their beauty has disadvantages too.

The book is visually appealing. Each chapter is short, but very informative and thought-provoking, and full of pretty illustrations, comics and visual aids that make it an engaging read. Graydon writes in a colloquial way that makes you feel like you’re talking to a friend. Although she’s biased against the beauty industry, she never preaches. Her tone is not angry. It’s frank. Straightforward. Graydon makes you think and challenge your perspective of beauty. Her book’s a very enlightening read that will open your eyes to how profoundly we’re manipulated by the beauty industry.

[Booksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book is a really great introduction if you want to learn more about the beauty industry and the social and psychological studies that are constantly being developed in relation to it. It’s also a good introduction for some feminist topics related to the perception of beauty and the impact it can have on women -but also men- of all ages and social categories. The book admittedly focuses mainly on the reality of North America when it comes to these themes, but many of the thoughts and conclusions that are presented can be applied to other cultures: in my case, South America shares a lot of the views that are depicted here, so I could personally relate to what I was reading and could compare it to my own reality and experiences.

With that being said, you have to approach this book keeping in mind that you won’t get that many new insights if you’ve already read a little about these topics or if you are familiar and/or involved with feminism and some form of social studies. It will help you reaffirm some of the things you’ve probably been seeing a lot of, and it has the added bonus of being an incredibly aesthetically pleasing way of doing so. Once again, this is a book that I would love and hope to eventually have a physical copy of, because it is just stunning. The illustrations and the way the text is displayed on every page make the whole experience of reading really pleasing and memorable.

This book is definitely a valuable contribution to the continuous questioning of beauty and social norms that is currently happening. Diet fades, airbrushed images of models and celebrities, beauty ideals that are pretty much impossible to achieve, the power and influence of social media: all of these things are incredibly relevant right now, and in this book they are approached in a way that makes them both thought-provoking and easy to understand, which is always appreciated.

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

We may not think about it, but advertising and the beauty industry affects our perception of beauty. How is it that fat used to be beautiful, but now skinny is in? It's probably marketing (I think. Never take a marketing class unless you want to suspect everything is a form of advertising). At any rate, In Your Face: The Culture of Beauty and You tries to peel back the layers to look at how beauty is defined, and examine our perceptions of beauty.

When I say "our", I really mean "the Western standard of beauty", but "our" was much easier to write. Besides, I think it's safe to say that Western beauty standards have influenced much of the world.

Topics covered by In Your Face include fairytales and beauty, the history of beauty, double standards for men and women, whether being beautiful is an advantage. All in all, there are ten chapters, each exploring a different aspect of beauty. Most of the focus is on Western beauty, although there are brief mentions of African/Asian/Other parts of the world (mostly as a comparison to the West, so it's not really examining their culture of beauty).

Each chapter is written in a conversational style, and laid out like a magazine. It's bright and colourful, with fancy fonts and quite a few images. At the end of the chapter, there is a one page summary, with each point in a box.

I really liked this book. I wasn't expecting a serious treatise on how we view beauty (the cover set my expectations), and when I look back at the book, it seems to have covered a lot more than I thought it would. I think that this serves as a good introduction to the idea of beauty, and how it has been seen throughout the ages.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile

[Odette Cortés · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blame the fairytale Disney princess. Blame the supermodel. Blame Barbie. Blame the TV and the media and the fashion magazines. Blame them for all your problems! Or you can get to the root of the problem and find out exactly how their little schemes work, and most importantly why they work. Shari Graydon’s book, In Your Face: The Culture of Beauty and You, is a collection of sneak peeks into our idea of beauty.

Although I thought that the book is just the tip of the iceberg, and many of the issues raised have already been raised before, In Your Face once again aims for cultural awareness on the western conceptions of beauty. The history of beauty and humanities pursuit of it is such a vast subject that one book isn’t enough to cover it, but it’s a start. Written in a friendly manner and illustrated to please the eye this book is a breeze to read.

Now, these are some of the dogmas that are challenged in these pages: Do attractive people are really treated differently? Do men really prefer blondes? If I’m tall, will I have a better salary than a short person? Do eating disorders happen in other countries that are not America or Canada? If you want the cliff notes version, then the answer to all of it is a big YES. If you want to know why and perhaps break the cycle then I suggest you open this book and find out.

I got this book from NetGalley.

[Esete Amare · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Should I wear this? Are my eyes to far apart? I wish I was a model.” Are only some of the questions that go through a girls mind. Insecure, obsessive and frustrated she's uncomfortable with her presence. What is she to do? Nothing, according to author of In your face Shari Graydon. In the book in your face, Graydon tells girls to be comfortable with their presence and to work with what they have, while appreciating themselves. According to Graydon, even models aren't as they appear, and that being beautiful doesn't solve all your problems. She also tells women to just live their lives rather than being absorbed in her flaws because how women see themselves isn't how people see them. Lastly, Graydon is also telling women to not care so much about judgment that may happen. By using facts, surveys and pictures Graydon helps women understand and resist the terrible cultural pressure to conform the stereo type that beauty rules.

Written in 2nd perspective the narrator is limited. I recommend this book to teen girls. Shari Graydon is able to say, that every day, in many different ways, that girls can choose what messages seem write to them. Shari Graydon puts images of beauty into perspective, this book empowers girls to stop feeling controlled by peer pressure. This book is enlightening and provocative.

[Mekdelawit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book In Your Face by Shari Graydon is about what being beautiful has meant over the years. In this book, it talks about the different trends that have been around like corsets. People used to think that corsets made them look more beautiful and women used them to make their waists look smaller. This book also talks about how people are willing to give up a lot of their time to get money for designer clothes so that they can fit in. Teens also find themselves doing weird things so that they can fit in with their peers. Many people focus on looks and when someone actually likes them for their personality, they find it hard to trust. This is because in many ways, society sends the message that looks are what matter.

The narrative point of view in this book is 3rd person. The author of the book made the book 3rd person, but at the same time, it feels like she is talking to me. It allows people to connect to and understand the book. I think that this is important because if the book wasn't written this way, it would probably be boring.\

I would recommend this book to others because it informs people in a weird way that you don't have to look like a model to find love or to be happy. I would also recommend this book to people that like to read about what was considered fashionable years ago.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed the new edition for NetGalley.

A fascinating look at the psychology, sociology and history of the beauty culture. This book is very catchy and should appeal to all who are interested in learning about how people are affected by the constant barrage of impossible beauty standards from the media.

The illustrations are excellent and humorous, which gives far more impact than a series of boring graphs. They grab the reader's attention quickly and create far more interest in the material than standard illustrations would. This is a visual book about a visual topic.

I think this book would be excellent for anyone who feels intimidated by the inhumanely impossible standards of attractiveness produced by the media. Ms. Graydon stresses the disadvantages of being beautiful, as well as the advantages. Perhaps developing one's self rather than relying on external features is the most important message of all.

Great book!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a must read for all teenagers and any adults who are unhappy with their bodies. Graydon exposes the misconceptions most of us have about our bodies and reveals all of the innacurate and ridiculous misconceptions presented by the media. The book is laid out by thematic chapter, with sidebars, comics, and great pictures to enhance the text. She is frank, yet does a pretty good job keeping an objective voice even through the premise is somewhat biased. Her research is extensive (wow--look at the bibliography at the end). The tone would be easy for any young adult to easily enjoy. I think even teenage boys would do well to read this book. The overall message of this book: DON'T get duped into cultural perceptions of beauty. True beauty and happiness have very little to do with how you look!

[Rosey D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an honest, historic look of beauty. It explored the history and cultural aspects of what determines beauty and how mainstream companies make money off of us and these falsehoods. After reading this book, I now have a clearer perspective of how we have been duped into believing the "hype" of what true beauty is- particularly as women. I would highly recommend this book to EVERY woman regardless of race, age or perceived beauty status. It will change your perspective not only on beauty but of yourself.

[The Wylie Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every young person should read this. Written in 2004, the pop culture references are slightly dated but the message is not by any means. Notions of beauty change according to culture forces, and its more important than ever that we create a world of critical thinkers that can see past the marketing gimmicks of a beauty industry that makes money off of making us feel like crap about ourselves.

[Heather Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the new cover! An interesting and necessary look at the culture of beauty in the past and present as well as the dominant western culture versus the majority of the world. Teens should take a long look in this book and see that beauty is a many faceted thing.

[Hannah]

I read this to see if it was appropriate for our collection, and I think it's rather good. Well designed, liberal and sensitive in its descriptions and definitions of cultural concepts like beauty, diversity, etc, and with good writing. Way better than the earlier edition.

[Debrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author (a former president of MediaWatch) offers some media literacy tips about noticing and evaluating all the messages coming at us. A nice break-down.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enlightening.