As a college student, I see fellow students on my way to class every day and let me tell you, I am so influenced by what people are wearing. I really am. I observe myself in the mirror in-between classes and I don’t have any makeup on, my sweatpants are baggy, and my sweatshirts are sometimes too big for my body but I’m comfortable and I feel good, shouldn’t that be enough? I find myself getting tired of constantly saying “Sorry I know I look like such a wreck.”
Feeling the Pressure
Two words. Beauty standards. I mean it just feels impossible. If you think about it, unrealistic beauty standards are pushed on people, mostly women, from a very young age. Think back to when you were younger and you saw a commercial on TV where a stunningly beautiful model is using a product and promoting it, giving the sense that if you use this product, you’ll look like her. The reality is, that model was handpicked for her beauty and then airbrushed and heavily edited to make her look like the epitome of unattainable perfection. Impossible beauty standards control it all. Young women have fallen increasingly prey to this with social media presenting a never-ending cycle of what you should look like, what should you wear, what should you put on your skin to make it clearer, and much more. It leads to so much psychological damage that carries into adulthood. Studies have shown that by the age of 13, 53% of girls are unhappy about their body, that percentage carries on to 73% by the time girls turn 17. This vicious cycle can lead to all sorts of issues relating to body image, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. It’s just horrible.
A Sexist Undertone
There’s so much social pressure for women to look good. I think the root comes from a place of sexism. Specifically, the idea that women should look good if they want to achieve certain things that are achieved by men without the same pressure. Research looking at salary differences suggested that women who participate in grooming, practices such as styling hair, having makeup on, and even good-looking clothing accounted for salary differences between other women, whereas men showed little to no difference in salary when grooming was involved. Are you kidding me? It only pushes the idea more that a woman’s appearance is what makes them worth of anyone’s time and consideration. The emphasis on beauty norms feels more overwhelming than ever. Beauty is such a huge part of normative gender roles, the ridiculous idea that women are meant to be homemakers, bear children, continuously be well groomed, polite, and accommodating. Women have moved into other roles in today’s society and yet it feels as though gender norms and beauty standards of what we are supposed to has followed us.
A Final Thought
In summation, beauty standards suck. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look good but more so, the constant apologizing for looking as you normally do as if that is not enough, has got to stop. Beauty standards do not define whether or not you are a brilliant, beautiful, funny, and talented individual. That goes for everyone. Women don’t owe prettiness to anyone. It’s a sentence I need to repeat to myself more. Don’t let society determine your self worth. We are beautiful individuals, and we don’t owe it anyone or anything to tell us different.
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