The Shadow of Patriarchy: Social Violence, and the Advertising of Beauty .
This essay will examine both the theory and the practise of this form of violence against women. It will be argued that while this violence is social and cultural in form, it is nonetheless real and physically damaging to women. It alienates millions of women from their bodies and forces them into dangerous lifestyles and practices (anorexia/bulimia) in a desperate effort to meet an artificial construct of beauty. Given the range of influence of the mass media in modern society, it will be shown that this is perhaps one of the most common - and certainly socially acceptable - forms of violence against women today. 12 pgs. Bibliography lists 10 sources.