The Dangerous Notion of 'Beauty'

We all want to be beautiful.

To be ‘attractive’ is to be deemed desirable and relevant in society, is it not?

Although beauty ideals regarding femininity seem to garner the most attention, issues of body image are not limited by gender. Nor are they limited by race or age - the perception of beauty varies greatly from a multitude of cultural and racial standpoints. All of us can be affected by our society’s beauty ideals.

In Europe, a tiny waistline has been the feature of desire for many women, and thus the corset was used to discipline the body into the perfect shape. In China, girls’ feet had to be bound to adhere to the ideal image of small feet, a practice which caused the bones in their feet to become deformed. And in cultures where women are valued for their fertility, a full-bodied stature with large hips and breasts would be considered the ideal body type, reflecting the societal roles women are expected to fulfill.

How well a woman follows these ideals can affect their social status, and not conforming to them would deem you, well, not beautiful. Unworthy of attention, perhaps. Undesirable.

This constant emphasis on female beauty and what makes women beautiful is what constitutes the feminine beauty ideal; it asserts that attractiveness is a woman’s most important asset, and only by conforming to these socially constructed ideals can a woman can be considered beautiful.

Needless to say, this concept is highly problematic - not only are these ideals unattainable for most of us, they are also severely unhealthy to a woman’s view of the self. The widespread objectification of the female body teaches young women that their appearance is the sole determinant of their value, and thus it becomes inextricably linked with their self-worth. This idealisation of physical beauty also diminishes female competency and reduces them into sexualised objects, especially for the male gaze.

One of the most powerful ways in which young women learn these beauty ideals is through mass media. Virtually all female models depicted in advertisements in a given culture are homogeneous in appearance, with every flaw or blemish carefully photoshopped away, leaving an image of the perfect woman. This then becomes the ideal every other woman will strive to become, with the false hope that they can one day achieve these impossible standards of flawless beauty.

Social media spaces such as Instagram are popular outlets for models and celebrities alike to show off their ravishing appearances. This places a huge focus on the importance of physical appearance, not just for celebrities, but also for ordinary people peer pressured into looking the part. Once again, digital manipulation comes into play, as users have the opportunity to edit their photos to the desired level of perfection, forcing themselves to adhere to the beauty ideal. As a result, users are exposed to photo after photo of picture-perfect appearances, causing a further internalisation of the societal beauty ideal.

While it may seem a trivial matter, such internalisation of beauty standards can actually have significant negative impacts on the individual. By continually comparing themselves to those portrayed in the media, women begin to damage their self-esteem by viewing themselves as inadequate, resulting in the emergence of other adverse psychological consequences including depression and eating disorders. In fact, as achieving the beauty ideal becomes a progressively widespread phenomenon, eating disorders are becoming increasingly prevalent, especially in young girls who have yet to fully make sense of their identity and place in society.

To deal with this body dissatisfaction, women are more than willing to invest their money and time into hiding their ‘flaws’, to the point where it becomes obsessive. You may be all-too-familiar with the countless influencer-proclaimed ‘miracle diets’ and weight loss pills, not to mention the assortment of ‘slimming’ garments and ‘anti-ageing’ creams to choose from. It is this obsession with beauty products that the cosmetics and beauty industries profit tremendously from, so it is no wonder that they continue to fuel our insecurities and self-loathing by endlessly degrading our ‘unsightly’ flaws. Flaws that make us human.

On a more positive note, however, modern society seems to be taking steady baby steps in changing their perceptions of beauty. The recent Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, for example, used women of a variety of ages, ethnicities and body types to advertise their products in an attempt to challenge society’s unrealistic representations of beauty. The issue of male body image is also beginning to share some of the spotlight, which is a huge step taken from the misconception that females are the only ones suffering from body shame.

While the media alone should not bear the full responsibility for beauty dysmorphia and eating disorders, its influence on perceptions of beauty is indeed indisputable, and we have to be aware of the harm it can cause on the self-esteem and mental health of young people. It’s actually quite scary how important beauty has become, and how we have begun to equate beauty to the pure essence of a person.

Perhaps the way out of this is to redefine ‘beauty’ itself - by seeing it as an indication of individuality and mundane imperfections rather than a matter of conventional aesthetics shared by everybody. We are all born unique - isn’t that what makes us beautiful?

Everyone should have a right to exist without having to alter who they are - we are perfect just so.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminine_beauty_ideal

https://www.bradley.edu/sites/bodyproject/

https://generationt.asia/ideas/the-ugly-consequences-of-rigid-beauty-standards

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/02/beauty-today-celebrates-all-social-media-plays-a-role-feature/

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/beauty-ideal-heather-widdows.aspx