Ugly: A Letter to My Daughter
SKU: 61353685124

Ugly: A Letter to My Daughter

Sale price$20.60 Regular price$22.89
Save 10%

Shipping Estimate
USA
  • USA
  • CAN

Ships within 48 hours · Estimated delivery Jul 8 - Jul 13

Promo Codes Available:

For Your Every Summer RSVP, with Code: SUMMER15

Description

Ugly: A Letter to My DaughterA tender, moving, and insightful account of queer motherhood and an interrogation of life on the margins of American culture as a self described "ugly" woman "A rigorous ladyballs out polemic that also tells the most raw, tender, against all odds story of parenthood that I've ever read." Mary Gaitskill, author of Veronica Ugly is a word with fangs that can kill a woman's self esteem in one bite. Edicts about how women should look, behave, and think

A tender, moving, and insightful account of queer motherhood and an interrogation of life on the margins of American culture as a self-described "ugly" woman

"A rigorous ladyballs-out polemic that also tells the most raw, tender, against-all-odds story of parenthood that I've ever read." --Mary Gaitskill, author of Veronica

Ugly is a word with fangs that can kill a woman's self-esteem in one bite. Edicts about how women should look, behave, and think are the brutal forge through which they are made -- not born -- as Simone de Beauvoir famously argued in The Second Sex. And to defy the pretty imperative is to experience a kind of invisibility. It can be a hard thing to admit to yourself, let alone to your child, to say the words "I am ugly" or "I am seen as ugly." But early on in her motherhood journey, watching her young daughter begin to wrestle with beauty standards, Stephanie Fairyington felt compelled to face her own demons and to unpack her own ugly self-perception, one that she could trace to her own childhood, in order to conquer this seemingly immoveable frontier, far too taboo even among women to broach: the ways in which women's lives are unfairly contoured by the nature of their looks.

The multiple iterations of ugliness that Fairyington saw in her young self--her physical appearance, her formative gender dissonance, and obvious lesbianism--are not present in her beautiful and traditionally feminine daughter. But Fairyington's old feelings of inadequacy take on new meaning as she confronts fresh insecurities around her role as the nonbiological mother in her relationship, exacerbating wounds from a lifetime of being treated differently, from the poverty of her genetic inheritance to questions about her parentage to doubts about the legitimacy of her family.

Interlacing cultural history and analysis with memoir, Ugly is a probing investigation into cultural norms and the formation of our aesthetic sense of self. Fairyington contrasts her so-called ugliness with her daughter's attractiveness and adherence to beauty ideals, a tender and tenuous condition that her daughter was already walking a tightrope to maintain at age six. By sharing the history of her troubled self-image, Fairyington invites us to go rogue, to invent a new language and logic to overthrow all the ways that women have been cultivated to hate themselves.

Shipping Notes
  • Free Standard Shipping on $100+ Orders to the USA.
  • Except Preorder products are shipped in 48 hours.
  • Delivery to the USA:
  1. Standard Shipping : 3-10 business days
  • If time is of the essence, please consider selecting expedited delivery for faster service.
Exchange/Return Notes
  • We offer a 30-day return/exchange service after receiving.
  • Final sale items are not eligible for returns or exchanges.
  • To process your return/exchange, please contact us at [email protected]
  • Please click here for more details>>> Return & Exchange Policy
SKU: 61353685124

Discover Niche Categories That Outsell

Top-Converting Item to Boost Your Average Order

4.5 ★★★★★
Based on 1238 reviews
Sort
Highest Rating
Newest First
Oldest First
Product Reviews
T
Verified Purchase
Trevor Vicars
New York, US
★★★★★ 5
Good sunscreen
Style: SPF 50, Size: 3 Fl Oz (Pack of 1)
It works and it's vegan what's more to say. I repurchase this often.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2025
N
Verified Purchase
nphoton
San Leandro, US
★★★★★ 3
I Wanted to Like It
Style: SPF 50, Size: 1 count (Pack of 1)
I really wanted to like it because of the great reviews it gets with backpackers and generally with people that don't like "greasy hands syndrome" after applying sunscreen. But after using a stick I found that it's just not that good. The good: small, lightweight container. Not greasy. Good protection, I was in the sun all day hiking multiple days straight and only put on sunscreen twice per day and I didn't have any burning... and I burn easily. The bad: Value: the $12.53 sunscreen container only lasted about 8 days. And that was just my arms, neck, and half my face since I wore a shirt and long pants and a wide brim hat every day when hiking. I would expect this amount of sunscreen to last a lot longer than that on such a limited area. I'm not a big person either. Application, chafing: it's the opposite of greasy, almost chalky. You use the stick to apply to your skin in stripes, then you have to "blend it in" by rubbing with the backs of your hands so your palms don't get chalky. Since the stick is so dry this requires a fair amount of force and it chafes as you rub it around. When your skin a bit sandy it hurts. Application, crumbling: on a chilly but sunny morning, about 45 F, I applied sunscreen and small chunks of the stick crumbled off. I watched precious chunks of the already overpriced sunscreen drop to the ground. Residue: while it's not greasy, it's physical sunblock so it gives your skin the characteristic whitish sparkle. That's to be expected. But what I didn't foresee is it will rub off on anything your skin touches. My gear had white chalk-like marks (technically titania powder?) on my shirt collars, backpack straps, sunglasses, and a few other high-touch items. Overall I think it's a neat idea. I'm not overly disappointed with my purchase. But for $12.50 I expect sunscreen to be easier to apply and for the container to last longer than about 8 days. I can't burn $50/month in the summer months when a single container of chemical sunscreen will do the job. Pro tip: you can buy food-safe 3 oz TSA travel containers. Load one of those up with chemical sunscreen and you have something that beats this in every way except for the greasiness, which you can mitigate by picking a lower SPF sunscreen (the 30 SPF you wear is infinitely better than the 50 SPF you skip!).
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2025
D
Verified Purchase
D. Collins
New York, US
★★★★★ 5
sunscreen does its job
Style: SPF 50, Size: 3 Fl Oz (Pack of 1)
Works well. Took a little more effort to rub into skin.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2026
M
Verified Purchase
MB101727
Draper, US
★★★★★ 5
Best sunscreen for kids
This is the only sunscreen my son can use. He has very sensitive skin, and can’t use a lot of other sunscreens. This covers great and is a little thicker so you know it’s staying on.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2025
A
Verified Purchase
Amazon Customer
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 5
Great product
Goes on clear and smooth!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2026

recommand products