I think all women and girls should read this book. very insightful and easy to read. The author guides us not on how to feel beautiful, but to bring out the beauty that always has been inside each one of us.

“You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful” – Amy Bloom

Beauty Redefined by Seline Shenoy delivers an easy to read and understand piece on the complexities of beauty standards, expectations and ideals that have changed throughout the ages. Shenoy presents a well thought out and empowering book that shows the importance of self-worth and acceptance. Something that I know a lot of women (both young and old) really need.

“My objective in writing this book was to give you the right perspective and tools to enable you to derive a sense of worthiness from qualities and deeds beyond the superficial”
Shenoy painfully recounts her experiences with her own body image and how she internally struggled to be the woman that she thought she should be (in accordance with modern beauty standards). It was really warming to read the experiences of another woman and know that I was not alone in the struggle to meet society’s definition of beauty! I was that kid who had glasses at a young age, then graduated onto braces and a face covered in acne.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the historical and educational journey that Shoney took me on throughout different cultures and different eras and what was considered beautiful there and then in that time and place. Did you know that during the Renaissance Era that women used poisonous eye drops to make their eyes sparkle? Not much has changed moving into the modern era, poisonous eye drops have been replaced with surgical needles and injections to make our lips plumper or our breasts larger (not that I have any issues with that whatsoever!).

Seriously, I could go on forever writing about every part of this book that I loved and connected to on a very personal level. This book really tickled my sociological bone (I have a bachelor of Social Science!) and I managed to sit and read it over a whole day. I recommend this to all women, all ages, all shapes EVERYONE (not just cisgender women) as this is a revolution where ALL women are changing the beauty standards of our society and dismantling the socially constructed ideals behind beauty.

Interesting take on how the world perceives beauty and how women should see themselves in their mirror. Great table of content. Was hard to put down.