Societal beauty standards can be most detrimental to female health and gender inequalities
Societal beauty standards have always been most pervasive throughout the media, with ideas of what is considered “conventionally attractive” being consistently spread, externalised and promoted throughout various mass media platforms such as Television, Films, Magazines etc, which in turn get pervasively internalised. One thing that has always been clear are the gender inequalities, with there appearing to be a much heavier focus on societal beauty standards and conventional attractiveness in females than that of males. For example, something I notice a lot in TV programmes and films I’ve watched is that is always appear to be a female that is very much known for being “hot”, who is constantly referred to as such and has all the guys chasing after her, clearly being conventionally attractive, yet this seldom ever seems to be the case for males. There is very much that message of what is considered “conventionally attractive” for a woman, and this in turn can lead to most detrimental and toxic pressures on teenage girls and young women, because they do not look this way. Body image is also a very significant part of these beauty standards, as while the male societal beauty standards are also still very much existent, they do not appear to have anything like the same pressure put on them when it comes to these beauty standards as girls and young women do. The “ideal” female body has varied greatly over time, going from a voluptuous, hourglass figure, ultra-thin, to lean and toned, which appears to be the current “ideal” female body.
These beauty standards can in turn lead to great levels of insecurity, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, (Friar, 2021; Turner & Lefvre, 2018). Since the rise of social media in the 21st Century, in particular that of Instagram, with its selective exposure of highly-visual content, being a photo-based platform/application, as well as its universal availability, these societal beauty standards have been very much exacerbated. I have noticed this quite frequently throughout Instagram, not even just with celebrities but even with my own peers, with girls/young women who you can see are clearly what society considers “beautiful”, conventionally attractive at that, with their thick, long, thick hair, tall height (though can often be depicted with heels), lean and toned body, heavy make-up, clear skin and of course sexually provocative clothing with a fair bit of cleavage being displayed. I’ve seen some of them with photos of their new eyelashes which they also discuss in their post, and its just this emphasis on appearance that makes me feel there is in turn that major concern around societal beauty standards in females, and the potential impacts this may have on health and well-being. It’s the fact that these beauty ideals are clearly being very much emphasised, that the main point here is the beauty of these girls, which they flaunt over Instagram with nearly all photos of them flaunting this “beauty” of theirs, of what is considered to be beautiful by society’s standards, and is very much seen as conventionally attractive, and how this is depicted and externalized as being of as the “ideal” way for a girl or young woman to look, which can then often be internalized by girls and young women who will then feel insecure about their own appearances and feeling they don’t look good enough because they don’t look like this, as well as seeing all the “likes” and “hearts” these photos get, and how conventionally attractive guys always seem to go for conventionally attractive girls like this, is what makes it most concerning and toxic. While these people may not mean to cause harm to the mental, emotional, and physical health of adolescent girls and young women, it can very much result in such detrimental impacts on health and well-being.
There appears to be an abundance of content throughout Instagram that I have noticed that focuses on a woman attaining a particular “lean and toned” body through various diet and exercise practices. Instead of actually being targeted at people who are actually overweight or obese and do actually need to lose weight, it appears to be primarily targeted at women who do not actually need to lose weight, but women in general, with a focus of achieving “abs” and “a flat tummy”. While a healthy body is ideal, it’s the concern that there just always has to be this particular, “ideal” body for young women to attain, instead of just focusing on a healthy, average body, which is the most healthy and realistic, as well as there just being too much of a focus and pressure on female body image and appearance in the first place, as opposed to encouraging them to focus on deeper things like their strengths, personality traits, skills etc. It's always either that or the most infuriatingly unrealistic "thin but with large breasts" that seems to be the ultimate "ideal body" for females to attain.
The concern is the fact that “conventional attractiveness”, of what a girl/woman should look like in order to be considered conventionally attractive, is even a concept to begin with, rather than beauty being seen seen as an individual thing, and that (outer) beauty is so heavily focused on, externalized and promoted in the first place. It’s these pressures on girls and young women of feeling they’ve got to look a certain way from the mass media and social media, particularly Instagram, that can therefore lead to low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, anxiety and depression.
While I am not unattractive, I am not conventionally attractive either, and while I am not generally, particularly insecure about my appearance, I still have been affected by these societal beauty standards at times, of this whole notion of “conventional attractiveness”, namely when seeing that this guy I have had a major crush on, who is of course conventionally attractive, had a conventionally attractive girlfriend, as well as a conventionally attractive best female friend, and also currently has a girlfriend, who, although I have not seen and have no idea what she looks like, is no doubt also conventionally attractive, or at least I would bet any money that she is. It’s just the way conventionally attractive guys always seem to get with their conventionally attractive female counterparts and vice-versa that makes me realize all the more just how superficial this society can be, with these beauty ideals being very much internalized, as they may not be actively thinking “oh I only want a truly stunning girl/guy!” but it is no doubt internalized in their mind from society, reflecting on a clear example of our superficial society at that. I am still no way wanting to be more conventionally attractive though, as of course it is not me to change myself like that, especially given how toxic I think the whole notion is, but its realizing this that has hit me too. However, I am still not overall insecure about my appearance, and I am able to realize that while these girls may be superior to me when it comes to outer beauty (at least from an objective point of view that is), I have strengths that they don’t, or don’t have as much as at least, like more depth, wisdom, and even inner-beauty. I never want to compare myself to them, and have been able to embrace my individuality and self-identity more, and every girl/young woman should do this, instead of comparing themselves to their peers all the time, especially when it comes to things such as appearances and social status (i.e popularity).
I think it is a very overlooked aspect of feminism and gendered/women’s health to be honest, and health in general, as I think it is a great concern regarding both women’s health, gender/health inequalities and mental health, and overall public health at that. I think Instagram and its selective exposure definitely encourages and exacerbates this immensely, and I think it would be great if adolescent girls and young women were encouraged more to embrace their inner-beauty, strengths, skills, abilities etc., and its a pity society, namely the media and social media, don’t focus on these things anything like as much as they do appearances. I don’t have Instagram, or any social media platform for that matter, which is the healthiest thing for me, as after having tried it just recently, only to showcase my art of course, I only felt it was having detrimental impacts on me and my health all over again. It is definitely an important part of feminism, as well as mental health and well-being, that girls should not have to be exposed to such toxic, unhealthy messages that have the most detrimental impacts on their self-esteem, mental health and well-being, and that they can instead focus on and embrace their self-identity and individuality, doing what makes them happy instead of society, including guys they like or their “popular” peers.
These beauty standards can in turn lead to great levels of insecurity, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, (Friar, 2021; Turner & Lefvre, 2018). Since the rise of social media in the 21st Century, in particular that of Instagram, with its selective exposure of highly-visual content, being a photo-based platform/application, as well as its universal availability, these societal beauty standards have been very much exacerbated. I have noticed this quite frequently throughout Instagram, not even just with celebrities but even with my own peers, with girls/young women who you can see are clearly what society considers “beautiful”, conventionally attractive at that, with their thick, long, thick hair, tall height (though can often be depicted with heels), lean and toned body, heavy make-up, clear skin and of course sexually provocative clothing with a fair bit of cleavage being displayed. I’ve seen some of them with photos of their new eyelashes which they also discuss in their post, and its just this emphasis on appearance that makes me feel there is in turn that major concern around societal beauty standards in females, and the potential impacts this may have on health and well-being. It’s the fact that these beauty ideals are clearly being very much emphasised, that the main point here is the beauty of these girls, which they flaunt over Instagram with nearly all photos of them flaunting this “beauty” of theirs, of what is considered to be beautiful by society’s standards, and is very much seen as conventionally attractive, and how this is depicted and externalized as being of as the “ideal” way for a girl or young woman to look, which can then often be internalized by girls and young women who will then feel insecure about their own appearances and feeling they don’t look good enough because they don’t look like this, as well as seeing all the “likes” and “hearts” these photos get, and how conventionally attractive guys always seem to go for conventionally attractive girls like this, is what makes it most concerning and toxic. While these people may not mean to cause harm to the mental, emotional, and physical health of adolescent girls and young women, it can very much result in such detrimental impacts on health and well-being.
There appears to be an abundance of content throughout Instagram that I have noticed that focuses on a woman attaining a particular “lean and toned” body through various diet and exercise practices. Instead of actually being targeted at people who are actually overweight or obese and do actually need to lose weight, it appears to be primarily targeted at women who do not actually need to lose weight, but women in general, with a focus of achieving “abs” and “a flat tummy”. While a healthy body is ideal, it’s the concern that there just always has to be this particular, “ideal” body for young women to attain, instead of just focusing on a healthy, average body, which is the most healthy and realistic, as well as there just being too much of a focus and pressure on female body image and appearance in the first place, as opposed to encouraging them to focus on deeper things like their strengths, personality traits, skills etc. It's always either that or the most infuriatingly unrealistic "thin but with large breasts" that seems to be the ultimate "ideal body" for females to attain.
The concern is the fact that “conventional attractiveness”, of what a girl/woman should look like in order to be considered conventionally attractive, is even a concept to begin with, rather than beauty being seen seen as an individual thing, and that (outer) beauty is so heavily focused on, externalized and promoted in the first place. It’s these pressures on girls and young women of feeling they’ve got to look a certain way from the mass media and social media, particularly Instagram, that can therefore lead to low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, anxiety and depression.
While I am not unattractive, I am not conventionally attractive either, and while I am not generally, particularly insecure about my appearance, I still have been affected by these societal beauty standards at times, of this whole notion of “conventional attractiveness”, namely when seeing that this guy I have had a major crush on, who is of course conventionally attractive, had a conventionally attractive girlfriend, as well as a conventionally attractive best female friend, and also currently has a girlfriend, who, although I have not seen and have no idea what she looks like, is no doubt also conventionally attractive, or at least I would bet any money that she is. It’s just the way conventionally attractive guys always seem to get with their conventionally attractive female counterparts and vice-versa that makes me realize all the more just how superficial this society can be, with these beauty ideals being very much internalized, as they may not be actively thinking “oh I only want a truly stunning girl/guy!” but it is no doubt internalized in their mind from society, reflecting on a clear example of our superficial society at that. I am still no way wanting to be more conventionally attractive though, as of course it is not me to change myself like that, especially given how toxic I think the whole notion is, but its realizing this that has hit me too. However, I am still not overall insecure about my appearance, and I am able to realize that while these girls may be superior to me when it comes to outer beauty (at least from an objective point of view that is), I have strengths that they don’t, or don’t have as much as at least, like more depth, wisdom, and even inner-beauty. I never want to compare myself to them, and have been able to embrace my individuality and self-identity more, and every girl/young woman should do this, instead of comparing themselves to their peers all the time, especially when it comes to things such as appearances and social status (i.e popularity).
I think it is a very overlooked aspect of feminism and gendered/women’s health to be honest, and health in general, as I think it is a great concern regarding both women’s health, gender/health inequalities and mental health, and overall public health at that. I think Instagram and its selective exposure definitely encourages and exacerbates this immensely, and I think it would be great if adolescent girls and young women were encouraged more to embrace their inner-beauty, strengths, skills, abilities etc., and its a pity society, namely the media and social media, don’t focus on these things anything like as much as they do appearances. I don’t have Instagram, or any social media platform for that matter, which is the healthiest thing for me, as after having tried it just recently, only to showcase my art of course, I only felt it was having detrimental impacts on me and my health all over again. It is definitely an important part of feminism, as well as mental health and well-being, that girls should not have to be exposed to such toxic, unhealthy messages that have the most detrimental impacts on their self-esteem, mental health and well-being, and that they can instead focus on and embrace their self-identity and individuality, doing what makes them happy instead of society, including guys they like or their “popular” peers.
26-30, F