Dieting, lack of self-confidence, and dissatisfaction: Despite the advancing equality between men and women, young girls often succumb to a damaging and misogynistic beauty ideal. Girls and women feel uncomfortable in their bodies, squeeze themselves into tight clothing, and hide their faces behind heavy makeup. Christina Mundlos asks: Why do girls and women strive to conform to this pathological beauty ideal? Based on a broad analysis of girls' and women's magazines, she explores why the beauty ideal propagated in the media is accepted at all. For the first time, the author provides a comprehensive explanatory approach to the functioning of the Western beauty dictate, integrating sociological, social psychological, and sociolinguistic perspectives. In doing so, she sheds light on...