Pixel Flesh

How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women

By: Ellen Atlanta

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Paperback | 26 August 2025 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
384 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.7 x 13.1 x 3.0

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A generation defining account of womanhood, beauty standards and digital culture in the modern age.

In Pixel Flesh, Ellen Atlanta holds a mirror up to our modern beauty ideal and the harm it is doing to women all around the world. Weaving in her own personal story with those of other women, she reconfigures our obsession with the cult of beauty and explores the realities of living in a digitally obsessed world where the pressure to present yourself both virtually and in person is all-consuming.

Providing an eye-opening account of the pressures women face in a world obsessed by image, Pixel Flesh unmasks the absurdities of the dystopia we find ourselves living in. Both a rallying cry and a refusal to suffer in silence, this is the defining book on what it feels like to exist as a woman today.

About the Author

Ellen Atlanta is a writer and brand consultant specialising in Gen-Z and millennial culture. She has worked in the beauty industry for almost a decade and was a founding editor of Dazed Beauty. With her focus on female empowerment, Ellen departed from the beauty industry in 2019 to become a founding member of both The Stack World and Communia, reimagining social media platforms and creating better digital spaces for women+ . In 2021, she was headhunted to support UN Women UK on their digital campaigns, creating safer public spaces for women and marginalised genders across the country. She was awarded the RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction in 2022.

Industry Reviews

A brilliant clarion call for better. Ellen is masterful at exploring the complexities of modern womanhood

Confronting the conformity and compliance of today's beauty culture, Ellen Atlanta's revealing new book charts the course for a brave new world in which women and girls can - at long last - be comfortable in their own skin

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

Pixel Flesh stopped me in my tracks. It took me back to my girlhood in a bold, unexpected and poetic way like a Grimms' Fairy Tales, but with Kylie's Lip Kits. Ellen has a unique talent for helping you see through other's eyes and making you feel seen yourself

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

Atlanta is a whip-smart, full-hearted writer who gets to the core of beauty with expert grace that makes it look easy. Her vulnerability makes you feel seen as a reader and her expertise makes you feel protected as you navigate the chaos of the beauty industry from her perspective. It's a breezy, pleasurable read, and one I feel lucky to have on my shelf. The world is lucky to have her writing and her tenderness, too

Pixel Flesh is a wise and sensitive indictment of the beauty industry - it synthesizes relatable anecdotes about living in the social media age with on-point critical theory and vigorous research. If you're struggling with the beauty industry's chokehold, this book can be a tool in breaking free

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