In The Two Finger Diet: How the Media Has Duped Women into Hating Themselves, author Benjamin Straight delivers a compelling sociological examination of how the American media advertises to women, a key marketing demographic ruthlessly targeted since 1870. The author traces the historical roots of this phenomenon and its development to the present, carefully scrutinizing the manipulative tactics companies have constructed to pitch the 'beauty myth' to American women. His research addresses myriad themes on the commodification of American women, including:
- What is the 'perfect' female physique and who is defining it?
- What institutions that have emerged to combat the 'obesity plague' and provide products for aesthetic enhancement?