In drawing attention to the physical characteristics of women leaders, they can be dismissed as either too pretty or too ugly. The net effect is to prevent women's identification with the issues. If the public women is stigmatized as too 'pretty,' she's a threat, a rival--or simply not serious; if derided as too 'ugly,' one risks tarring oneself with the same brush by identifying oneself with her agenda.

Ultimately Wolf argues for a relaxation of normative standards of beauty. Wolf argues that women were under assault by the "beauty myth" in five areas: work religion sex violence and hunger. End of America was favorably reviewed in The New York Times by Stephen Holden as well as in Variety Magazine.

Wolf (born November 12 1962) is an American author and former political consultant. With the publication of the 1991 bestselling book The Beauty Myth Naomi Wolf became a leading spokesperson of what was later described as the third wave of the feminist movement.