Book description
In Confidence Culture, Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill argue that imperatives directed at women to "love your body" and "believe in yourself" imply that psychological blocks rather than entrenched social injustices hold women back. Interrogating the prominence of confidence in contemporary discourse about body image, workplace, relationships, motherhood, and international…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Confidence Culture as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
You know the expression “True beauty is on the inside”? When I have felt insecure about my appearance, hearing from a well-intentioned friend that “true beauty is on the inside” has not consoled me. It is a beautiful idea… in theory.
In practice, this way of thinking can be harmful because it shifts focus away from systemic and cultural beauty ideals that privilege particular identities and body types and suggests that if I don’t feel good about myself, the true problem is my attitude.
Orgad and Gill skillfully show that this kind of thinking props up a “confidence culture” that…
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