Beauty Standards : The Positive Effects Of The Standards Of Beauty

There are beauty standards all over the world, but America has one of the most highest and unreachable standard of the all. In the article “Whose Body is This,” the author Katherine Haines reflects the issue on how narrow-minded society, magazine and the rest of media is depicting the perfect body. The ideal body in America is established as skinny, tall, perfect skin, tight body are characteristics that destroyed majority of woman’s self esteem (172). As girls get older and into their teen years, they have been brainwashed to need to look like the unrealistic, and photoshopped models in magazines and advertisements. Girls don’t feel comfortable to be in their own skin, because they were not taught to love themselves for who they are right in the beginning.

Beauty standards in America are always changing and continuously on the rise due to society’s constant obsession with the perfect body image. This image is built upon the things we see in movies, television shows, and magazines, which causes girls to feel the need to look flawless and set far-fetched goals for their physical appearance. Today’s era marks tall, skinny and flawless faces as beautiful, and if girls don’t have any of these attributes, they truly believe that they aren’t as beautiful and will do whatever it takes in order to obtain that beauty. In today’s ever-so-demanding society, social media, flawless models, and pressure from not only peers but from family as well, have all implemented a negative impact

Unrealistic beauty standards have evolved over time, and once even had an evolutionary basis. According to (Goehring 1999), in our “evolutionary past…the reproductive's best interest is to find a female who is healthy, and attractive.” Observable physical characteristics must be used to define what is healthy and therefore indicative of procreation in a potential mate, “hence the evolution of preferences in the dimensions of age, skin completion, and body shape” (Modern Standards of Beauty: Nature or Nurture?)

The purpose of this project is to help women and help them understand that they do not have to follow any significant standard of beauty. However, it is not easy to make them understand or believe when everything on social media is so unrealistic. These unrealistic images are appearing everywhere all over the country. We can easily find this in the magazines, commercials, and social media. The message being sent to women is that they are not pretty or skinny enough. Often, people think that their bodies are their own, but because of the fact that this phenomenon happens in this society makes women not be able to ignore it or think with a different idea. Annually, magazine companies spend billions of dollars on diet and exercise advertisements

In today’s society, the double standards of self-image is more influential than any other time in history. From the moment the power button is pushed on your remote control; commercials, TV shows and movies present the perfect figured image female. With the height of 5’9” tall, twenty-five inches in waistline, 38 D cup bust size and long shiny beach wavy brown hair; who wouldn’t want to have that perfect look and size. Media, magazines and radio stations are amongst the most influential resources and the easiest way to deliver and portray the messages that women should look perfect in every way to be accepted in today’s society. While society seems to be moving away from double standards about toughness for men, women still suffer from double

“Beauty is subjective, yet American society creates an objective facade of what beauty is and how it looks and that is one does not fit into it than they are not “attractive,” superficially over substance, Americans simply are uncomfortable being themselves” (Williams). The beauty standards for women are shaped by society’s ideas of beauty. When women try to fit these beauty standards to be accepted, society thinks they have the right to objectify women and their bodies. The pressure can lead to eating disorders or even depression. Beauty standards for women are getting to a point where they are almost unrealistic, and often leads to someone objectifying a women’s body, these habits lead to things most people don't think about it.

According to Forbes et al, in this aspect, beauty standards and practices, such as the thin-ideal, are seen as vehicles for the oppression of women. This oppression is complex and multifaceted. Among other things, beauty ideals and beauty practices signal women’s inferior status and identify their differences from men, shift social awareness from women’s competencies to superficial aspects of their appearance, undermine women’s self-confidence, dissipate their emotional and economic resources, and reduce them to sex objects (Jeffreys, 2005). Murnen and Seabrook (2012) continue that beauty ideals are functionally and symbolically disempowering to women, who are vulnerable to these ideals due to their lack of economic power and their sexually

This unrealistic standard of beauty that people are bombarded with everyday gives them a goal that is impossible to reach, and the effects can be devastating. These impossible standards need to be stopped, and

Despite the claim that everyone is beautiful, barely 20% of the models in New York, London, Paris, and Milan for fashion week are people of color (Wilson, 2014). Eurocentric beauty standards have a negative impact on countless people around the world who do not fit into these set values. These standards are often times valued over non-European features, and this impacts children at a younger age than some may believe.

What is beautiful know was not always beautiful, there was a time in history when being thin “was considered ugly, a woman’s misfortune” (Seid 169). Because culture change, what is ask for women now is different, body ideals might be the same but the actual response of women is what is changing nowadays. In the article “Ideals of Beauty Need Not Hinder Women.” by Raina Kelley, the author reveals surprising statistics of women’s response of what society demands from them, “And believe it or not, trends in beauty-buying back that up. The market-research firm NPD released a study in April [2010] that revealed that teens and women are now using beauty products in significantly fewer quantities, down 6 percent from 2008 to 2009” (Kelley). In her article, Kelley talks about how women’s mentality is changing, and instead of obeying they are reveling from standards held against them. Women are gaining courage and self-confidence to do what they want to do with their lives and body, to please themselves and to look beautiful for themselves. “Despite the $20 billion U.S. beauty industry bearing down on us, and all that media implying that one must look like Gisele [Bündchen, a model] to succeed, girls and women are making extraordinary strides and have done so in a remarkably short period of time” (Kelley). Women in today’s society do not feel the need to follow stereotypes anymore, they are supporting each other and making sure that no one feels less than anybody because they do not have a slim waist, light skin and a thin body. Women are rebelling against the beauty standards that they always follow and made them insecure and

In today’s society, the idea of the perfect women becomes increasingly unattainable. Women and girls are being held to beauty standards that virtually no one has, leading to increasing body image issues and self-harm. Females are constantly judged on their appearances and not by what they bring to table in terms of intellect and physical ability. Under these conditions, African American women and other women of color suffer the most. Beauty standards not only tell women that you are only beautiful if you are skinny, it also tells them they are more beautiful the lighter they are and the straighter their hair is. Young girls of color are constantly ridiculed and even punished by school authorities for wearing their hair in its natural state and bleaching creams continue to fly off the shelves in African countries, as well as here in America. Societal expectations of beauty create unrealistic and dangerous situations for all women, but especially for those of color.

In this day and age, the epidemic of these so called ‘beauty’ standards is only getting worse and worse. Because of photo modification, low self esteem in regular everyday people is starting to become something that is nearly considered normal. Today, 42% of girls from age 5-8 want to be skinnier, 52% of girls aged 9 to 13 feel better when they are dieting and by the age of 17, 78% of girls are unhappy with their own bodies. Think about

Moreover, many popular clothing and beauty brands have perpetrated the idea of beauty standards with their advertisements and use of models. American Eagle Outfitters, one of the most popular clothing brands among teenage girls, states on their bags, “The Real You is Beautiful”, and their ads feature the phrase “The girl in this photo has not been retouched.” Those this may appear to an encouraging message, the messages are placed next to young, tall, and thin models. Though items such as freckles or tattoos are not photoshopped away, the models still display certain key characteristics. In this, the brand is sending the message that the real you is beautiful, but only if the “real you” appears a certain way. This holds true for many brands that feature the same type of women, a clear absence of plus-sized models. Similarly, Victoria’s Secret, one of the most popular lingerie brands, is well known for their selective model-picking process and the beauty standards the models are held too.

Understanding the effects of beauty standards to both men and women requires research of both sexes and different orientations in regard to the influence the media has on them. While cultural standards contribute to beauty standards, media carries most of the responsibility for swaying public opinion of attractiveness. In order to find an answer as to why certain beauty standards currently exist, one must examine the root cause: media.

In today’s society, the ultimate key to happiness is through the beauty a person portrays to the world around them. This underlying key is advertized to people in the marketing of companies, social media, and media on television. The perfect image of a woman who is attractive and delighted in her life is the ideal for how life should be. The beautiful people of society are the “elite” or the “popular” and this is portrayed to lead to wealth, success, and ultimately happiness throughout life. Many people tell themselves “If I can buy these products to perfect my face or hair and lose this weight then my life will be perfect so do it!” As a result of the just do it” attitude, the perfect image has effects that aren’t addressed in relation to the world’s “perfect body image.” The perfect body image leads to an increased rate at which people develop eating disorders, increased risk of depression and poor self esteem and bullying, and increased sales in the beauty industry.