Giselinde Kuipers on why beauty alienates and divides

Kuipers, research professor of sociology at KU Leuven, spent the first half of 2026 as a fellow at NIAS. There she wrote Lelijke mooie wereld (‘Ugly Beautiful World’), published this September by Das Mag. In what her publisher calls a manifesto, she traces how appearance has grown steadily more important since the nineteenth century, and why she regards this ‘beauty regime’ as destructive. It draws us into a competition that exhausts us, our society and the planet. It teaches us to treat our bodies as aesthetic projects. And it deepens inequality, since beautiful people grow richer while the rich find it ever easier to become beautiful.

In an interview with de Nederlandse Boekengids, Kuipers looks back on a career devoted to what she calls frivolous subjects with serious consequences, from humour and memes to cycling and fashion. She speaks frankly about the state of academia, makes the case for a public logic of citizenship in place of profit and growth, and names the three sociological insights she believes the world most needs now.

Is there a way out of the beauty regime? Kuipers sees five ways to put a spoke in the wheel, and one of them matters more than the rest.

The full interview is available in Dutch on the website of De Nederlandse Boekengids. An English translation of the interview will follow here shortly.