In this powerful, eye-opening work in the vein of Naomi Wolf, Peggy Orenstein, and Sheryl Sandberg, an acclaimed psychology professor explores the cultural obsession with women’s appearance that harms women’s ability to get ahead and to live happy, meaningful lives“[P]rofessor Engeln’s sharp examination of beauty sickness reveals its disturbing impact on women of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds…Engeln’s writing is engaging and conversational…Engeln’s book is thought provoking and will be fascinating for all readers, especially those interested in psychology, cultural studies, media, or gender studies.”—Booklist (starred review)

We live in a beauty-sick world that teaches women to believe beauty matters most. Let’s change that.Today’s girls and women embody a bewildering set of contradictions. They don’t want to be Barbie dolls, but, like generations before them, feel pressure to look like them. They’re angry about the media’s treatment of women, but often consume the very outlets that belittle them. They mock our culture’s absurd beauty ideals and make videos exposing Photoshopping tricks, but emulate the same images they reject. They critique social media for presenting a false reality, but still download apps to airbrush their selfies. Simply put, a beauty-sick culture leaves too many of today’s women at risk.Yet many of these same women are eager for a way to step away from the mirror—eager for a way forward. In Beauty Sick, Renee Engeln, PhD, provides invaluable motivation and workable solutions for women to embrace their whole selves, claim the futures they deserve, and, ultimately, change the very world that made them beauty sick in the first place. Beauty Sick reveals the shocking consequences of our culture’s obsession with appearance on girls’ and women’s emotional and physical health, their wallets, and their ambitions. Those consequences include depression, eating disorders, disruptions in cognitive processing, and wasted time and money. Weaving in scientific studies with real women’s stories and experiences, Engeln shares how small changes in how we think and talk about ourselves and other women can pave a pathway out of beauty sickness and leave women even more ready to fight the battles our world needs them to fight.