Pixel Flesh

How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women

By: Ellen Atlanta

Narrated by: Ellen Atlanta

This program is read by the author.

A generation-defining exposé of toxic beauty culture—from Botox and Instagram filters to lip flips and editing apps—and the realities of coming of age online

We live in a new age of beauty. With advancements in cosmetic surgery, walk-in treatments, augmented reality face filters, photo editing apps, and exposure to more images than ever, we have the ability to craft the image we want everyone to see. We pinch, pull, squeeze, tweeze, smooth and slice ourselves beyond recognition. But is our beauty culture truly empowering? Are we really in control?

In Pixel Flesh, Ellen Atlanta holds a mirror up to our modern beauty ideal, as well as the pressure to present a perfect image, to live in an age of constant comparison and curated feeds. She weaves in her personal story with others’ to reconfigure our obsession with the cult of beauty and explore the reality of living in a world of paradoxes: we know our standards are unhealthy, but understand it’s a way to succeed. We resent social media but continue to scroll. We know digital beauty is artificial, but we still strive for it.

From Love Island to lip filler, blackfishing to the beauty tax, Pixel Flesh is a fascinating account of what young women face under a dominant industry. Nuanced, unflinching, and razor sharp, this audiobook unmasks the absurdities of the standards we suddenly find ourselves upholding, and acts as a rallying cry and a refusal to suffer in silence, forming the definitive book about what it truly feels like to exist as a woman today.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2024 Ellen Atlanta (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"With kaleidoscopic vision, meticulously researched insights, and the narrative power of a novelist, Ellen Atlanta’s Pixel Flesh unravels the complex tapestry of standards and perceptions that shape our identities. Pixel Flesh is not just a book; it's an essential mirror reflecting the profound impact of beauty culture on our lives, urging us to question and redefine our notions of allure and authenticity."—Chloé Cooper Jones, two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and author of Easy Beauty

"A rigorously researched and deeply personal account of the modern female experience. Pixel Flesh is a searing and lucid appraisal of internet culture's most corrosive and diminishing aspects; from predatory algorithms, celebrity, cosmetic surgery, disordered eating and the tyranny of performing a self. A must-read guidebook on the dizzying hall of mirrors that women must navigate online and the dangerous real world consequences that follow."—Nada Alic, author of Bad Thoughts

“Ellen Atlanta has written an imperative manual for surviving modern womanhood. Equal parts compassionate and fierce, personal and universal, Pixel Flesh delivers a searing account of an image culture that continually asks us to self-harm in the name of empowerment. I couldn’t put it down.”—Allie Rowbottom, author of Aesthetica and Jell-O Girls

Beautiful & Tragic

I think the most disturbing part of this book is how unsurprising all of it is.

Pixel Flesh offers a raw look into how beauty standards have infected women of all ages all over the world. Like scratching an open wound, this novel explores the reality of trying to simply exist in this age. This all comes from the startling honesty of the author and the testimonies of a variety of women trapped under the weight of the ever evolving and impossible to reach “standard”. It’s a heart wrenching look into the lives of women who are much different than I, and many who are not.

This debut by Ellen Atlanta is incredible. It’s heartbreaking, powerful, and inspiring.

I believe all women should read this book because maybe they won’t feel so alienated in this world, but absolutely every man should read this.

4.5/5 ⭐️

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC!