Cultural assumption and gender
This book is unabashedly critical of the popular idea that women ought to adjust their appearance before going into public. Although the idea seems automatic to most, Naomi explains why such assumptions are damaging and disturbing at their core. To say to women in public that they ought to smile, be well-rested and made-up, and be dressed stylishly—it is essentially to assume that men deserve to enjoy women's appearances in public. That is an almost-sexual profit that men garner from women they do not know.
Men and their opinion
Wolf is not criticizing all men, but rather, she is criticizing a category of man who tolerates misogynistic cultural assumptions in their own social opinion. These opinions may seem harmless to other men, but then again, it really is women who have a more plenary experience of the diversity of masculine opinions. She writes about being cat-called, being told to smile, being told what to do, being condemned for not acting like a lady—all by various men, including many strangers. This costs many women their privacy and peace, and it makes the public intimidating for women who know they might be openly critiqued by passersby.
Feminism as a fight
Naomi Wolf's idea for the future is a complete overhaul of social opinion. She wants to pull misogyny out of the zeitgeist by the roots, and her zeal is evident. This is not a book which is designed to convince people to become feminists; it is rather a rallying cry decrying the latent misogyny which still exists in modern cultures around the world. She expresses deep anger and sorrow at the human race and their history of complicity with misogyny. The book is a forceful rejection of all the times she has been told what to do by a man woman.
