Why and What are Beauty Standards?
We’ve all heard the saying that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but when we take into account the wide range of views on what constitutes “beauty” around the world, this proverb takes on a more literal meaning. Depending on where in the globe one is, people (especially women) suffer distinct demands to satisfy standards — and frequently different constraints on self-representation. Physical traits are emphasized and cared for in different ways depending on the culture.
What exactly does being beautiful entail? This is a query with a dynamic response. Women are expected to conform to the ever-evolving beauty standards that have been set for them in our culture. Women’s beauty standards in our modern world are extremely high and nearly impossible to meet.
Women have always been pressured to look a specific way, and beauty standards are a part of women’s history. Media portrayals of beauty can be found in social media, publications, films, and television programs. Many people will go to great measures to conform to the current concept of beauty because it is an obsession in our culture to be viewed as attractive and to be beautiful.
Many women experience pressure to alter their looks in an effort to conform to society’s standards of beauty. This could be changing the color of their hair, clothing a certain manner, exercising more to fit a certain body type, or even having cosmetic or plastic surgery. More than 40% of female respondents to a study on DoSomething.org indicated that they would consider cosmetic surgery.
It can be toxic and damaging for women to adhere to society’s and the media’s evolving ideals of beauty. Women have felt the urge to modify and live up to what is praised and branded as beautiful throughout history. Putting too much pressure on women can be toxic and damaging, making those who don’t fit the standard of beauty feel inferior. The issue with beauty standards is that they represent an impossible ideal for women to meet. They vary regularly over time, and women are expected to modify who they are in order to suit the image if they want to be seen as “pretty” or “beautiful.”
Chubby fingers, short legs, dimples, snub noses, hair, wide hips, broad shoulders, and lip type, your laugh, the way your teeth show when you smile — even if they are not perfect — wrinkles, bags under your eyes, a tummy, stretch marks, and everything else — are not reasons to believe that you are less attractive than society would like you to be in order to fit in. When you try to be better for someone else, you can’t help but feel inadequate for yourself. They don’t deserve you anyway if they don’t love you the way you are right now. To be hip, you shouldn’t alter anything. People won’t be grateful for that. They would continue to ask for more until you lost all sense of self.
Imagine learning from an early age that you must alter as soon as you emerge in order to conform to what other people perceive you to be. That can cause your self-esteem to go off a cliff. It encourages you to despise physical characteristics that are common to everyone, such as hair, stretch marks, acne, and discoloration. These absurd idealizations of beauty could easily lead to body dysmorphia and low self-esteem, especially in someone who has never been taught to accept themselves from the start. Why are women made to look like certain things? Every action a woman does is met with criticism, and the negative results mount quickly. Extremely high societal expectations for women must stop being imposed on us. It develops early self-hatred and confidence issues. Because we work so hard to maintain the status quo when the current quo should reasonably be adjusted to fit all, it is physically and mentally exhausting.
