Read the excerpt from The Feminine Mystique.“If I have only one life, let me live it as a blonde,” a larger-than-life-sized picture of a pretty, vacuous woman proclaimed from newspaper, magazine, and drugstore ads. And across America, three out of every ten women dyed their hair blonde. They ate a chalk called Metrecal, instead of food, to shrink to the size of the thin young models. Department-store buyers reported that American women, since 1939, had become three and four sizes smaller.The underlined terms in this excerpt most relate to which issue?
Answer
A
societal pressure on women to look a certain way
B
societal pressure on women to be content and fulfilled
C
societal pressure on women to forgo their career aspirations
D
societal pressure on women to pursue a life in show business
Explanation
The excerpt describes women dyeing their hair blonde, eating a diet product to become thinner, and buying smaller clothing sizes to resemble models. These details show pressure to meet a narrow ideal of beauty and body size. The best choice is A, societal pressure on women to look a certain way.
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