First published 2010
Katherine Schwarzenegger tackles the body image crisis facing young women in America. She draws from her personal journey of learning to love her curvy figure and finding confidence in her own skin. Schwarzenegger argues that girls receive damaging messages about beauty from family, friends, and media outlets that promote impossibly perfect, airbrushed images. She points to alarming statistics showing that seven million young women suffer from eating disorders as evidence of this cultural problem. The author calls for a complete shift in how society defines beauty. She includes stories from her own life alongside voices of other women who have learned to embrace their bodies. Schwarzenegger celebrates female bodies of all sizes and shapes. Her book combines factual information with personal narratives to create a practical resource. She offers young women tools to recognize their inner and outer beauty while rejecting unrealistic standards of perfection.
Genres: gender-studies, feminism, self-help, non-fiction
Vibes: inspirational, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, social-commentary
224 pages · Hardcover · Hachette Books
Content warnings: eating-disorder