By the 1980s beauty had come to play in women’s status-seeking the same role as money plays in that of men: a defensive proof to aggressive competitors of womanhood or manhood. Since both value systems are reductive, neither reward is ever enough, and each quickly loses any relationship to real-life values.

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.