Beauty is so much more than the outside, or the expected figure. It is the differences, the unique clothes, hair, eyes, everything about women that make people beautiful. The whole starting point in the discussion of beauty, is really do you see yourself as beautiful? What is beauty to you?
Influencers have spoken out about the impossible standards women are expected to upkeep. The idea that beauty defines the entire world, society runs and circles the idea of beauty, that keeps and holds girls and teens down.
“Beauty standards affect the way that people look at themselves and judge what they see. It is easy to say to love yourself and your body, but the ever changing beauty standards can make that easier said than done for both men and women. Beauty standards can cause negative self-thought and can sometimes cause issues between individuals if they are envious of how someone else fits into the current beauty standards,” said counselor Rebecca Naseman.
Today, society is prompted online and constantly spirals unrealistic standards the Gen Z generation is directly influenced by the easy access and almost unstoppable influence of defined beauty shown directly on our screens. Junior Sofia Vergara is on the varsity Tompkins swim team, and states how she feels.
“I always see other people I want to look like,” said Vergara.
Standards constantly influence while health and beauty do go hand in hand, beauty standards have also shown huge impacts on the brain and the overall psychological effect and toll it has on teens today. Sophomore Izzy Bahr explains what beauty means to her, and what life could be like without beauty standards.
“Beauty is what a person feels on the inside about what makes them feel beautiful,” said Bahr. “If standards didn’t exist then people wouldn’t feel the need to constantly compete with others to feel like they are more beautiful than the other person.”
Society influences these standards that are in total impossible, as society people are expected to uphold these policies by trying to continuously fit and meet set points of beauty. Senior Trisha Mukherji explains her view on the standards of beauty.
“Beauty is your inner and outer appearance,” said Mukherji. ”Life would be better if beauty standards did not exist, because people wouldn’t feel obligated to look a certain way. One can be content with themselves by realizing beauty is not just the outside and there are other things that can contribute to a person. the media shows women in a negative way because many women Photoshop pictures and set unrealistic standards.”
Behavior science states, beauty is for attracting mates, but then goes into the change and unexplainable idea of beauty being bigger and more today in society, no longer sufficient to explain the wealth of data on human preferences for beauty. Attractiveness is part of the status ranking among same-sex peers, and humanity actively deceives others about others personal appearance.
“I believe that the concept of beauty is different in other countries and cultures based on the common appearances and styles of other countries and cultures. What we consider beautiful in America may not translate in Peru or Saudi Arabia or German, per say, and vice versa. Cultural expectations can also play a part in the concept of beauty, for example if women are expected to cover their hair or wear dresses past their ankles,” said Naseman.
The evolution of beauty, due to society and the media frenzy available today plays a huge role in beauty today. Psychology explains the idea of beauty in the bias of evolution and mates. That beauty in fact was used as simple characteristic of genetic variation that improved individuals chance of reproduction or survival. Though today beauty seems to have a hold on every little thing, “pretty privilege,” wealth, money, status, peoples place in high school, others place in the world. Beauty has been developed to be well…everything.
“I do think the concept of beauty is ever changing. The hairstyles, clothes, body size, and make-up trends are always going in and out of style making it nearly impossible to keep up with societal standards,” said Naseman. “Teens can be so insecure, trying to find themselves, full of hormones and still growing into their bodies making them more susceptible to negative self-thought when concerning beauty standards.Teens can be so insecure, trying to find themselves, full of hormones and still growing into their bodies making them more susceptible to negative self-thought when concerning beauty standards.”
Beauty standards in America have changed dramatically, and yet these strict expectations hold and strangle society until it squeezes out little robots holding measuring tapes. Little girls hold Barbie dolls, or watch Tik Tok are already trapped and influenced behind the bars of beauty. Looking at some of the most famous titleholders of the “ideal women”, like Marilyn Monroe and Kate Moss, there are many examples of societal expectations of something people can not bend into. What does it truly mean to be beautiful in American society? Or what happens when other beauty standards and societies merge, what do cultures and others do when there society beauty is destroyed by an already emerged and strict standard?
“Beauty standards are unrealistic and constantly changing, making them hard to keep up with,” said Vegara.
Research paper, American Beauty Standards, from a college girl perspective sheds some light on this idea, literature discusses the consequences of being different from the standard. Western society holds beauty as a high form of cultural capital—a defining feature of a person that can increase their opportunity to achieve success. So, when one’s identity influences their perception of their own beauty, their opportunities and chances for success may actually be lower.
“People just have to feel like they are beautiful in their own eyes and not everyone else’s eyes I think that the media has a certain vision in which women should be viewed as and set such high standards that some women can’t reach,” said Bahr.
One standard, one way, one beauty. It is a concept intangible, something that no girl, or boy should be expected to hold. It is an entire concept stemmed from a society desperate on making girls insecure, Society traps women and girls into superficial standards of beauty that influences their everyday lives.
“I think feeding into the obsession a little would be okay. If buying the trendy jeans and cutting your hair makes you happy, go for it. Doesn’t hurt anything and hair grows. Otherwise, I find that positive affirmations in the mirror make a HUGE difference! It is cheesy but the more you tell yourself you are amazing, the more your brain actually starts to believe it. Disconnecting from social media can make a huge difference as well. So much negative self-thought comes from seeing unattainable and occasionally fake beauty on social media, “ said Naseman.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what does that mean? Naseman goes into what this means to her.
“I could see this to mean that if someone is quite confident in themselves and feel that they are beautiful, then they are beautiful. I would agree with this in the sense that a confident person can appear more beautiful, but that may not mean that they are beautiful to others depending on what someone’s standard of beauty is,” said Naseman.
