secretaries, 31, 50
Seeing Through Clothes (Hollander), 184
Seid, Roberta Pollack, 67, 88, 182, 193, 195, 196
self-esteem, 14, 25, 26, 29, 49, 115, 150, 224, 276–277
sexuality and, 36, 146, 150
weight obsession and, 187–188, 197
self-hatred:
cosmetic surgery and, 232
weight and, 185, 186
Self Magazine, 242
Seneca Falls convention, 68
separate sphere, see domesticity, cult of
Sex and the Single Girl (Brown), 31
sex discrimination:
BFOQ or GOQ and, 27–28
Craft suit and, 35–38
hearings and rulings on, 31–33, 37–41
Sex Discrimination Act (1975), 28, 40
sex education, asymmetry in, 152
sex, lies, and videotape (film), 168
sexual capacity, of women, 131–132
sexual fantasy, 16, 137–138, 140–141, 163–164
sexual harassment, 199, 300n
pinups as, 52
self-blame for, 43
work and, 37–38, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 51–52, 116, 300n
sexual intercourse, orgasm in, 146–147
sexuality, sexual behavior, 131–178, 273, 279–280, 311n–316n
of animals, 13, 132, 311n
anorexia and, 199
beauty and, 150–151, 168–173
beauty pornography and, 132–142, 145–152
fat and, 184, 192–193
female, suppression of, 154–162
pain and, 218–220
punishment and, 219–220
Rites of Beauty and, 96–98, 119
work and, 31, 44–46
of young people, 162–168
Sexuality of Organization, The (Sheppard), 42–43
sexual revolution, 11, 97, 132, 145, 146
sexual selection, 12–13, 294n
sexual surgery, 241–249
She, 244–245
Sheppard, Deborah L., 42–43
Shiseido, 227–228
Shoemaker Mine, 51
Showalter, Elaine, 99, 222, 245, 250, 260–261
Sidel, Ruth, 29, 49, 53
silicone, 239
sin, original, 95–96
single women, 31
Siskel, Gene, 136–137
Sisley v. Britannia Security Systems, 40
skin care, 69–70, 109, 116, 118–120
slavery, 55
Slaves of New York (Janowitz), 168
smoking, 229
Snowball v. Gardner Merchant, Ltd., 41
Society of Civil and Public Servants, 52
Soderbergh, Steven, 168
Solon, 219–220
Sontag, Susan, 220
South Dakota, University of, 166
Soviet Union:
eating disorders in, 183
feminism in, 80
women’s magazines and, 80, 81
Spare Rib, 138
spas, 101, 120
Spender, Dale, 106
Spenser, Edmund, 59
“standards of near perfection,” 33
starvation, semistarvation, 193–196
see also anorexics, anorexia
State Department, U.S., 243–244
Stein, Gertrude, 174
Steinem, Gloria, 68, 81–82, 162
Stevens, Judge, 37
stewardesses, 31, 40, 298n
Stock, Wendy, 141
stomach stapling, 261, 323n
Stone, Lucy, 11, 18–19
Strathclyde Regional Council v. Porcelli, 52
Stuart, Richard, 100
success:
dressing for, 43–45
women’s definition of, 145
Sudan, sex in, 147
Sugiyama, “Sam,” 111
Sullivan, Jack, 136
sun-phobia, 105–106
Supreme Court, U.S., 134, 219
surgery:
bypass, 261
cosmetic, see cosmetic surgery
plastic, 234, 256, 266–267
sexual, 241–249
surveillance of women, 99–100
Sweden:
eating disorders in, 183
pornography in, 79, 138
sexual harassment in, 43
sexual violence in, 159
working women in, 21
Swept Away (Cassell), 159
Symington-Brown, Dr., 244
Tamini v. Howard Johnson Company, Inc., 39
Tatler, 133
Taylor, Debbie, 131, 140, 161
Taylor, Lou, 67
teachers, 50
technology:
female body and, 266–269
female employment and, 26
as instrument of control, 14, 15, 16, 109
television, exportation of beauty myth and, 80
television journalism, women in, 34–37, 48–49, 278, 299n
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Hardy), 61
Texier, Catherine, 168
Third Shift, 25, 26
Third World, food distribution in, 190–191
Time, 31, 36, 78, 208–209
Tong, Rosemarie, 51
Tostesen, Daniel C., 227, 228
transformer, beauty myth as, 20–21
Turkey, food in, 190
Twiggy, 184–185
UCLA survey, 165, 167
Ugly Feminist, caricature of, 18–19, 68–69, 208–209
UNICEF, 244
Unification Church, 125, 126
uniforms, 40, 43–46
United Kingdom, see Great Britain
USA Today, 40
Vassar College, 212
Venus Syndrome, The (Chandris), 226
Victorianism, 146, 220
clitoridectomy and, 244
female piety and, 92
feminism and, 18–19
separate sphere and, 15
women’s magazines and, 62
Vinson, Mechelle, 38–39, 41
violence, 218–269, 320n–328n
cugenics and, 264–266
health and, 222–227
sex and, 159–168; see also rape; sadomasochism, beauty
virginity, “beautiful,” 14
vital lies, 17, 18, 68, 200, 221, 223, 225, 295n
in ideology of beauty, 28
medical coercion and, 239
Viz, 137
Vogue, 67, 72, 133, 134, 184
volunteer work, 23
von Wangenheim, Chris, 133
waitresses, 40, 41
Walker, Alice, 149
Waring, Marilyn, 23, 25
War Manpower Commission, 62–63
Warner, Dr., 244
Warner, Marina, 58
Washington Star, 69
Wedderburn, Buddy, 110
weight loss, 94, 98–102
as female goal, 10, 186
feminism and, 184, 188, 196–197, 208–209
as legal sentence, 32
of women vs. men, 94
see also diets, dieting; eating disorders
Weight Watchers, 99–100, 125
Weir, Jeremy, 242
Weldon, Fay, 245, 326n
Wells, Linda, 118, 120
Werner, Bobby, 201
Wilde, Oscar, 93
Wileman, Miss, 41
Wileman v. Minilec Engineering Ltd., 41
Wilson, Elizabeth, 67
Wilson, Sally, 93
Winfrey, Oprah, 245
Winship, Janice, 81
Winship, Thomas, 78
Wodaabes, 13
Woman, 81
Woman Hating (Dworkin), 254–255
Woman’s Dress for Success Book, The (Molloy), 43–44
Women (Taylor), 140
women’s magazines, 61–85, 181, 183, 304n
advertising in, 62, 64–67, 73–84, 305n, 307n
beauty myth fantasy and, 70
censorship and, 77–84
; changes in social roles and, 62–64
as club, 74–75, 77
feminism and, 66–72
mass culture and, 70–72
political importance of, 72–73
rise of, 62
sit-ins and, 70, 71
solidarity and, 75–77
women’s movement, see feminism
Wooley, O. W., 187
Wooley, S. C., 187
Woolf, Virginia, 11–12, 181, 197
work, 20–57, 296n–302n
career advancement and, 54–55, 301n
female professionals and, 25, 33
job discrimination and, 11, 21
mothers and, 26
PBQ and, see professional beauty qualification
sexual harassment and, 37–38, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 51–52, 116, 300n
underpayment of women and, 18, 23–24, 48–52
value of women based on, 14
Victorian view of, 15
of women vs. men, 21, 22–24
World Wars and, 62–64
World Health Organization (WHO), 182, 235, 243–244
World War I, 62
World War II, 62–64
famine in, 194–195
Worldwatch Institute, 160
Wyden, Ron, 240
Xerox Corporation, 33, 298n
Yale Club, 210
Yale University, 49, 167–168, 212–213
Yeats, William Butler, 172, 218
youth, as “beautiful,” 14
Zacharova, Natalia, 80
Zap, 137
Also available from Vintage
NAOMI WOLF
Promiscuities
‘A daring, startlingly brilliant book’
Carol Gilligan
In this dynamic new book Naomi Wolf explores and celebrates the phenomenon of female sexuality – empirically, imaginatively, anatomically and personally. By following a group of four contemporary girls – including her younger self as they come of age in the seventies, Wolf shows how our culture tries to shape and confine women’s desire. Embarking on a voyage of discovery, she illustrates how flawed and prescribed are the notions of what women want, and how these change through the ages – from Taoist techniques for giving women pleasure, to Victorian repression, and the so-called liberated nineties. Drawing on scholarly texts, secret diaries, real life and fantasy, she demonstrates that female sexuality is wilder, more demanding and more powerful than our culture dares to accept.
‘The prevailing fantasy is that, while men have a sexual “past”, women have none . . . Wolf, in Promiscuities, smashes that taboo, both directly by talking about herself, and indirectly by relaying the confidences of her pseudonymous friends. The result makes fascinating reading.’
The Times
‘At last a new generation of women writers is addressing the powerful issue of female sexuality. I gulped this wonderful book down in one sitting, like a novel. Brava Naomi Wolf for your courage, your intelligence, your lucid prose’
Erica Jong
Also available from Vintage
NAOMI WOLF
Misconceptions
‘Naomi Wolf goes much deeper here than she ever has before’
Erica Jong
‘Wolf’s many bold demands . . . give us pause and present challenges; society should restructure itself to accommodate babies.’
Guardian
‘Wolf’s polemic is as clear and sure as ever’
Observer
Every year, millions of women have their lives turned inside out by the experience of pregnancy. A contemporary woman finds herself caught in an absurd paradox: while in the grip of one of the most primal, lonely, sensual and in some ways, psychologically debilitating and physically dangerous experiences, she is overwhelmed by invasive, trivialising and infantilising cultural messages about what is happening to her – and who really owns the experience.
‘Fiercely confident and uncompromising.’
Publishers Weekly
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Copyright © Naomi Wolf 1990
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