How do the wealthy owners of the cosmetics and fashion industries play on women's insecurities to sell products and rake in profits? How are the standards of beauty determined in capitalist society? Why do the employers, the media, the government, and the schools and churches promote "the feminine mystique" and glorify the family? How has the growing participation of women in the labor force changed their view of themselves and their potential? How has it affected the attitudes of men toward women? What does all this say about the relationship between the capitalist system and the oppression of women?

These are some of the questions that emerge from a lively 1954 debate over the relation of the marketing of cosmetics and fashions to the exploitation of women. The controversy was sparked by a short exposé of the cosmetics industry in the 'Militant', a socialist newsweekly. That article, written by 'Militant' editor Joseph Hansen and entitled "Sagging Cosmetic Lines Try a Face Lift." is included in this collection. Also published are other articles from that debate by Hansen and Evelyn Reed, providing a Marxist analysis of the pressures bearing down on women - and men - in capitalist society, especially during periods of political reaction or retreat.

ISBN: 9781604881905 PathFinder Press Authors: J. Hansen, E. Reed and M. Waters