The beauty game rests on a simple premise: If you’re a woman, your primary role in life is to appear as physically attractive as possible. The costs of playing this game are steep, yet for many women, it feels impossible to stop playing. Renee Engeln is a psychology professor and director of the “Body and Media Lab” at Northwestern University. She is the author of Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women. Prof. Engeln’s research and writing focus on issues surrounding women’s body images. Her work has appeared in numerous academic journals and at academic conferences. She is regularly interviewed about body image-related topics by media outlets including the New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, BBC, The Atlantic, NPR, and NBC. An award-winning teacher, she was voted to the “faculty honor roll” for eight consecutive years and graduating Northwestern students have selected her for their “Last Lecture” multiple times. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx