Hansen J., Reed E., Waters M.A. Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women

Reissue ed. — Pathfinder Press, 1993. — 172 p. — ISBN: 0873486595, 9780873486590.Sixty years ago, an article published in the socialist weekly the Militant sparked a lively debate on how the cosmetics and “fashion” industries play on the economic and emotional insecurities of women and youth to rake in profits. Today that exchange, contained in this book, a Marxist classic, offers an introduction to the origin of women’s oppression and the struggle for liberation.How big business uses women's second-class status to generate profits for a few and perpetuate the oppression of a sex and exploitation of all working people.A fascinating and instructive collection, this is the written record of a debate carried out in the pages of the socialist newsweekly, the Militant, in the mid-1950s. You get a serious look at the roots of the oppression of women in capitalist society, including the powerful psychological pressure exerted through mass media, marketing, and bosses to compel women to "need"--and hence buy-- the "right" clothes, cosmetics, and so-called beauty treatments. The discussion takes up the changing relations between men and women as human society has evolved from earliest times to today's class-divided society, debunks the notion of an eternal standard of beauty, and much more.It's also a wonderful example of how to analyze and understand political and social questions from the standpoint of the interests of working people and not succumb to the prejudices and fetishes of capitalist society. You see how political activists can thrash out sharp differences over tough questions in the framework of an open exchange of views.An extensive introduction covers the impact of the capitalist crisis of the 1980s on women and the decline of the mass women's rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s.