Woman in the Mirror

Cynthia M. Bulik

Many women--regardless of income, size, shape, ethnicity, and age--are uncomfortable in their own skin. We fixate on our body image and try endless diets, implants, Botox, hair extensions, and new shoes, but it's never enough. The problem is that girls and women have been socialized to mistakenly conflate body-esteem and self-esteem. Body esteem refers to how you think and feel about your physical appearance: your size, shape, hair, and features. Self-esteem refers to how you think and feel about your personality, your role in relationships, your accomplishments, and values-everything that contributes to who you are as a person. The Woman in the Mirror goes beyond typical self-esteem books to dig deep into the origins of women's problems with body image.