Description: This striking and provocative book explores the history of bodily beautification; the physicality of socially or culturally determined choices of beautification; the interplay of gender, race, class, age, sexuality, and ethnicity within and on the body; and the aesthetic meaning of the concept of beauty in an increasingly globalized world.
Review Quotes:
"The cultural, ethnic, and geographical diversity of the artistic practices is integral to the examination of the many beauties and provides the operating premise of the book. The diversity represented in this volume whether in discourse style or topic is not an add-on; instead, it is the organizing principle. The book is designed the way I wish more courses in philosophy were designed, with the idea that the history of philosophy is just one among many important sources of beauty's knowledge.72.1 Winter 2014"--Journal Aesthetics and Art Criticism
"The title of the anthology reflects its worthy call to arms: let's move past traditional theories of beauty, move from a local to a global view, and engage in more (and different) dialogs on feminist perspectives on beauty."--Hypatia
"This collection meets a need for a feminist aesthetics text which bridges aesthetic theory, art and popular culture, and acknowledges the evolving character of standards of beauty and the many meanings of feminism around the globe.36.4 Dec. 2013"--Teaching Philosophy
"In such different contexts these authors dramatize the various ways that beauty can function in relation to personal desires, artistic values, and social authority. Here we can discover beauty not only as a quality and a value, but also as a project and a practice that drives our lives from both within and without--internal standards, external expectations, and ambivalence meeting in provocative disputation."--from the foreword by Carolyn Korsmeyer