In today’s age of social media, face and body filters have become undetectable with their sneaky ability to cover almost any imperfection or enhance any body feature. These filters can be fun at times, but their overall usage in social media, mainly TikTok, concerns me. Beneath the surface, these filters are perpetuating harmful beauty standards, contributing to body image issues, and overall reinforcing patriarchal norms.
It’s almost a daily occurrence at this point. I scroll through my TikTok feed to come across a video of an influencer that looks to be in her 20’s doing an “outfit check”, or a video of a girl filming her makeup routine. I noticed that the most common filters these influencers use are to make their eyes look brighter or skin to look smoother. While these filters don’t drastically alter their appearance, they contribute to an unattainable standard of beauty, all while young and impressionable girls internalize the message that their natural beauty isn’t enough. Of course, unrealistic beauty standards for women have always been pushed in the media, but with the advancement of social media and modern technology, the way to reinforce these standards has gotten more pervasive and undetectable.
Some may argue that these filters are harmless and simply allow TikTok users and influencers to feel more confident online. It’s not the existence of filters themselves that are the problem, it’s the widespread use of them that caters to a certain demographic, mainly young girls online. The constant exposure of subtle tweaks to one’s face or body online is digital manipulation. The normalization of this creates a world where the diversity of looks is frowned upon which contributes to a never ending cycle of insecurity and comparison.
Perfection does not exist in real life, but on TikTok or Instagram, perfection is just a couple scrolls away. The illusion of these unattainable features- flawless skin, perfectly symmetrical faces, or enhanced body proportions- distorts the overall perception of beauty. Imperfections are part of being human, but social media filters can create the message of beauty being artificial. No wonder self esteem and body image issues are so common among the youth when these undetectable and unattainable filters are used in pictures and videos they see daily.
I believe a major outcome of this whole situation is that more young women are turning to cosmetic procedures. With all the pressure to look a certain way thanks to filters and social media, it makes sense that some feel they need to change their appearance to fit those ideals. As there are plenty of commonly used filters that make one’s lips look bigger and fuller, the rise of lip filler has made its way to the forefront of cosmetic trends for young women. A tale as old as time: create insecurities in women to profit from them. As long as beauty standards remain unattainable, capitalistic greed will continue to thrive.
This trend doesn’t only impact self-image; it continues to reinforce the same patriarchal norms that have historically confined women. Women have always been judged based on their appearance, and now, with the uprise of social media and digital manipulation, the pressure to look perfect at all times has drastically increased. By promoting these unattainable beauty standards, filters uphold the idea that a woman’s value is still deeply tied to her looks. We are once again confronted with the reality that, in the patriarchal society we live in, a woman’s physical appearance seems to be more important than anything else.
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