Two supermodels died of complications resulting from anorexia this year during Fashion Week. An article in the March 1 New York Times hypothesized that plastic surgery is the new orthodontics. The February, 2007, issue of Vogue featured an article entitled, "Taking Control of Your Look and Life," which stated that every woman's "Job One" was the quest for "your own dressed-in-five-minutes formula so you can go out and beat the world."

These recent events demonstrate the relevance of Naomi Wolf's 1991 book, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. Wolf's believes that "the beauty myth" has replaced the feminine mystique; that "the gaunt, youthful model [has] supplanted the happy housewife as the arbiter of successful womanhood." Thankfully, many of Wolf's more extreme examples, especially those dealing with discrimination in the workplace, are no longer widespread, everyday threats. There have been definite improvements in the past 15 years; however, Wolf's main argument still rings true: women are still dehumanized and dissected in the media; "The flawless beauty" is still upheld as the ultimate pinnacle of success. We are told that if we only work hard enough, or buy the right product, we will succeed.

But this "success" is impossible: "When women adapt too well to the strictures of the industries, the weight or age that defines grace merely adjusts by plummeting: The models descend another ten pounds, the surgeons lower the "preventive" age for a first face-lift by another decade." In the past decade, the average weight of a supermodel has decreased from 120 pounds to 110-115 pounds, while the average height has remained 5'10. The Harvard Eating Disorders Center estimates that over 5 million women and girls and 1 million men and boys suffer from eating disorders in the United States. Wolf's meticulously researched and persuasively written work seeks to explain why this is so, examining the rhetoric promoting diets, cosmetics, and cosmetic surgery.

Wolf believes "The tone of diet books and features is dogmatic and unequivocal. ŒExperts' direct the endeavor and always know best." Diets use motivational, ostensibly supportive language, suggesting that if you have sufficient will power and motivation, you, too, can look like Kate Moss ­ all in just 30 days. Beauty ads cite "scientific evidence" and unquantifiable statistics: "In 4 weeks, 100% feel firmness return, 84% see brighter eyes!" How exactly does one measure the feel of firmness? The brightness of an eye?

Wolf is most persuasive when she argues against cosmetic surgery: "To undergo cosmetic surgery, one must feel and society must agree that some parts of the body are not worthy of life, though they are still living." Plastic surgery is based on the "correction" of physical "flaws"; flaws which are utterly unrelated to health or physical well-being; flaws that are defined by the current standards of "perfection." "Women choose surgery when we are convinced we cannot be who we really are without it."

Although this issue may seem trivial or inconsequential, it is important to consider that $50 billion dollars is spent yearly on cosmetics, diet programs, and cosmetic surgery in the United States alone. But perhaps it is even more important to notice the millions of men and women that waste their time and energy on intangible, industry-driven and self-destructive anxieties. In Wolf's words, the beauty myth "does to young women's minds, so much more free, potentially, than any ever before, what corsets and girdles and gates on universities no longer can... By saturation in imagery, the potential explosiveness of this generation is safely diffused." And while in 1991 the beauty myth was almost entirely restricted to women, it has increasingly targeted men in recent years. We are "the anorexic generation."

After buying the February issue of Vogue, to investigate Wolf's arguments, I flipped through the glossy, glamorous pages. At first, I didn't really notice anything; I was blinded by the myth, seduced by the seemingly benevolent and beautiful ads. But then I flipped through a second time; I studied the cosmetics ads, I really read the articles. And I felt sick.

L'Oreal tried to convince me that I was "worth" their product: the "Age Perfect Pro-Calcium" skin cream that magically "Re-densifies" my skin with its "Anti-Sagging" formula is part of their "Dermo-Expertise" line. Then they tried to convince me that their "Colour Riche Nuturing and Protective Lipcolour" would give me confidence. "When I wear it, I can do anything. Which shade makes you feel this sure?" their celebrity endorsement asked. Olay told me that "Regenerist" was the best way to "reactivate your skin...and your life." Avon said their "Anew Alternative Intensive Eye Cream" contained "Eastern Healing Herbs" and "Anti-Aging Science."

Ahh, the pseudo-scientific and fraudulent French language of beauty advertisements! Out of context, these ads are laughable and clearly ridiculous. But when you're enveloped in the myth, flipping through page after page of 6-foot-tall, 115-pound, sultry-eyed and air-brushed icons, suddenly you're the ridiculous one.

But I don't want to be remembered as part of the "the anorexic generation." I want to be remembered as the generation that ended the culture of obsessive and narcissistic physical "perfection;" as a member of the brilliant generation; the creative generation; the compassionate generation.

This isn't about burning bras or throwing away every single cosmetics product you own. Wolf believes "The problem with cosmetics exists only when women feel invisible or inadequate without them." If women and men are aware of the underlying, fabricated messages that magazines, TV shows and diet ads impose, we can conquer this myth-induced society. So if you buy a tube of "Colour Riche Nurturing and Protective Lipcolour," don't do it because you want to feel nurtured or protected or confident. Do it because you want some "Lipcolour." Or lip color.

The Beauty Myth, by Naomi Wolf, is available through Harper Perennial Publishing for a suggested retail price of $14.95. It is 368 pages.

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