Attractive individuals and common beauty are favored by society, and that’s the way it is. As if it hasn’t been rubbed in our faces enough, mass media persistently reminds us, many of whom are teenage girls, of images illustrating picture-perfect supermodels with unrealistically delicate figures and artificially glass-like skin. Consequently, those portraits begin to ingrain in the young generation’s heads, and the concept of the ideal feminine beauty changes as does females’ perception of their appearance and others’.
Girls and women alike have been under the constant pressure to conform themselves to ‘beauty standards’. Things have gotten to the point where it has taken a toll on their physical and mental health. Acknowledging the scarring the toxic notion would cause to one’s self-esteem and physique, many females have stood up for their peers who are deemed unable to uphold these ridiculous standards by means of the Body Positivity movement. Women in support of the campaign, as a response, post pictures of themselves, stripped bare of beautification applications and retouching, revealing their ‘imperfections’ such as belly fat rolls, blemished uneven-textured skin or cellulite. These demonstrations’ message is crystal clear: Love yourself; Even if you aren’t ‘conventionally pretty’ you’re still beautiful! Everyone is beautiful!
On the other hand, while the whole Body Positivity campaign is working towards the abolishment of the shallow and often unattainable Eurocentric beauty standards with a good intention, it does not have that good of an approach. To be frank, it still places the emphasis on the superficial ideal concept of ‘beauty’ and ‘privilege’. Since the drastic development of social media, our posting, browsing and interacting on the platforms also increase, which pretty much explains the multiplication of victims subjected to the socially constructed feminine beauty standards. Mass media, through television, mobile phone and camera lenses, promotes unhealthy and irrational expectations of women’s bodies. The majority of the virtual world catering to females consists of latest fashion trends, viral skin care products, colorful cosmetics and so on. Society verges on ignorance, all but admitting that a woman’s look is much more important than any other traits. Furthermore, society wrongly perpetuates the unrealistic idea of women with flawlessly porcelain skin, slim waist yet ample bosom as the embodiment of beauty; and any other qualities which do not fit into the category is deemed unattractive. As if that isn’t enough, not only do women compare themselves to the systematically ideal runway models, they also succumb to peer pressure, their ‘attractive’ friends making them feel like they are not beautiful enough.
But, there’s a thing. When you scroll through the profiles of white celebrities in western countries, it can easily be seen that a large part of them invest in make-up like dark shade foundation, despite them having inherent fair skin. On the contrary, women in south Asian countries who majorly are brown-skinned are being marketed whitening/bleaching creams. The fact that those white influencers keep trying to tan their skin to look like someone ethnically different and those darker-skinned girls resort to unsafe products to bleach their skin white is so problematic and disheartening. It’s starting to seem like the beauty standard is to be anything but yourself.
The obsession with ideal feminine definition of attractiveness constructed by mass media has put our women through numerous destructive phases and illness: eating disorders, self-harm, continual sense of inadequacy, and low self-esteem. Unfortunately, this is by no means an exhaustive list. The dreadful sufferings of the people will only stop once the media starts embracing every woman's innate beauty regardless of their skin color and body type. Please keep in mind that physical appearance and appeal are not the scale to measure one’s worth or the pinnacle one strives to achieve.