These books present an ideal of beauty that is accessible to very few women in this world because it requires a level of disposable income that the overwhelming majority of women do not have. Fitness, health and slimness are multi-billion dollar businesses. Now, there is also audio tapes we can listen to as we drive to work, advising us about fitness, health, slimness and nutrition. With all the aids, remedies and package deals now available, women are enticed with increasing force to view themselves externally, not unlike the way we look at commodities to purchase. Men treat women as commodities in today's society.
Men relate women to objects to look at, show off, use and abuse as they wish.
Being treated this way has not dispelled women's concerns with wanting to be more attractive. They continue to be afraid of gaining more than a couple pounds. The contemporary pursuit of thinness, however, cannot be understood without bringing into play capital, class and ideology. The most important ideology in the relentless pursuit of thinness is the belief that through individual hard work and determination one can be successful. One object of women's hard work, which, potentially is also a means of their success, is the body.