Face

One Square Foot of Skin

By: Justine Bateman

Narrated by: Justine Bateman

Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Writer/director/producer Justine Bateman examines the aggressive ways that society reacts to the aging of women's faces.

Face is a book of fictional vignettes that examines the fear and vestigial evolutionary habits that have caused women and men to cultivate the imagined reality that older women’s faces are unattractive, undesirable, and something to be "fixed".

Based on "older face" experiences of the author, Justine Bateman, and those of dozens of women and men she interviewed, the book presents the listener with the many root causes for society’s often negative attitudes toward women’s older faces. In doing so, Bateman rejects those ingrained assumptions about the necessity of fixing older women’s faces, suggesting that we move on from judging someone’s worth based on the condition of her face.

With impassioned prose and a laser-sharp eye, Bateman argues that a woman's confidence should grow as she ages, not be destroyed by society's misled attitude about that one square foot of skin.

©2021 Justine Bateman (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

in a word? DAMN.

i don’t normally write reviews. but i cannot overstate how much this book spoke to me. i grew up watching (okay fine, idolizing) justine as mallory on family ties and have often wondered what she did with the rest of her life. quite a bit, as it turns out. this exploration is brutal, poignant, and deftly performed. i have to wonder if there is anyone more qualified to examine this topic, but it’s clear the author has done her research nonetheless. i look forward to the film adaptation of Face, and hope other women find this work as empowering as i did.

justine Bateman is a force to be reckoned with

When will women be judged for who they are? Justine recounts example after example of the hideous superficial value of beauty. Her writing has advanced in sophistication and technique since Fame. I eagerly look forward to her next book.

Aging Ain't for Sissies

If you didn't feel bad about aging before you read this, you most certainly will after. I love Justine Bateman and I loved the idea of this book. I'm also 53 years old and I've never felt bad about getting older, wiser, etc. While Justine has a great outlook to aging, this book is a collection of 46 stories of women and how they feel about aging. Some were positive, but a lot were negative and depressing as hell. I've never gone the needle route but I don't judge women who do, it's their choice. I also don't mind striving to look pretty, for myself (not others) and it comes across as a bad thing in this book.

I wanted something else…it’s personal.

I mean, It’s well written, it’s well performed. I adore the author and her honesty, but it was just so damn depressing. I thought it was going to be uplifting. Maybe it’s not clear to others how other women feel about themselves, but I see & hear it all the time. Maybe it’s because I live near Greenwich Connecticut? Some of my closest friends, who I think are conscious and intelligent, are going to extreme measures. Wanting to look younger than you are is an epidemic. Maybe some aren’t awake to all the commercials and advertisements on TV social media; it’s all a trick to get you to do, buy, anything but BE, etc…It’s an unbelievable tragedy that gets passed down generationally. Just another way to keep women down & comparing instead of banding together to change society & capitalism.
I really was expecting to hear how Justin got to the place of acceptance. thinking that you lived a good life and that it’s OK now to look a certain way it’s just not enough in my mind to sustain the love for yourself. I guess as I write this I realize there is no acceptance without awareness. I guess I came into listening to this with awareness. Maybe this book is part one; the “awareness”.
Maybe there will be two more books that come out? The journey of her acceptance. And then the journey of action with sharing this with others.
I recently got very ill with Covid, and other things which caused menopause, weight, loss, separation; biggest stresses of my life, And my looks changed overnight; sagging, crepey, etc…
Something I literally never paid attention to, was suddenly all consuming to me. I’m going through my own process of acceptance and deep, deep, self partnering and love for myself. It’s not selfish; it’s for humanity.
I feel this is the only long lasting recovery from this and many things, maybe everything in life. Maybe I’ll write the book.
I love you ME! Thank you for leading Justine, Jamie Lee, and all those who tried to “fix” something that wasn’t broken only to find themselves worse off. Deep healing to you all. Love

Breathtaking

Loved this collection of stories, and the raw, honest way they were delivered by Justine Batemen. So relatable, and inspiring. Highly recommend for any woman, of any age, but most especially those confronting middle life…thank you Justine!

About Facing Ourselves

Well written and well read by Justine Bateman, this book asks us to look deeper into ourselves in light of the current rush toward eternal youth and the surrounding measurements of our own personal value. it will make you think!

Very Insightful

Empowering and perspective changing. If you want to reclaim power and visibility in your life, listen to this book.

Thank you Justine!

I experienced tears, laughter and sighs of reassurance through out this beautifully written book. Thank you again Justine!

Worth a Listen!

It really makes you think about how much importance is put on ‘how young we look’. Society wants youth, but what about a life well lived? Wisdom and knowledge? Thanks Justine for enlightening me! I am proud of my age, and now I will be proud of my face!

A sigh of relief and gratitude

This book was really good! I love that it gave me the permission to be my unaltered self. I love the fact that the author embraces her aging, and looks at it in a positive light! I am very good read for any young woman or older woman, who thinks that they need to change themselves to meet society’s demands.