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The Victorian woman became her ovaries, as today's woman has become her 'beauty.' Her reproductive value, as the 'aesthetic' value of her face and body today, 'came to be seen as a sacred trust, one that she must constantly guard in the interest of her race.'

— Naomi Wolf The Beauty Myth (1991)

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More quotes by Naomi Wolf

The beauty myth is always actually prescribing behavior and not appearance.

The Beauty Myth (1991)

The First Amendment was designed to allow for disruption of business as usual. It is not a quiet and subdued amendment or right.

What little girls learn is not the desire for the other, but the desire to be desired.

The Beauty Myth (1991)

Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when deciding what provokes it.

The Beauty Myth (1991)

You do not win by struggling to the top of a caste system, you win by refusing to be trapped within one at all.

The Beauty Myth (1991)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Naomi Wolf (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.