[The Beauty Myth] analyzes beauty ideals as a “gold standard” that organizes women into a beauty hierarchy and competition, and takes away their power to define themselves. Physical appearance and attractiveness is a form of privilege (and a type of currency, or capital), as many feminist sociological, psychological, and media-based studies have shown time and time again; it is an upward route to class and economic mobility through better employment options and marital choice. Feminine beauty and physical attractiveness are forms of capital which women can increase by investing in beauty products and in grooming and beauty practices. Physical attractiveness, whiteness, and youthfulness have accrued capital just as darker skin color, hair texture, disability, and aging have devalued feminine currency. Beauty is a resource that continues to be part of unearned privileges not only for white Americans with European origins, but also for those who approximate white physiognomy and light-skin ideals…