Discard body standards
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Body standards have continued to change over the last few decades, leaving millions of people to struggle with their body image. We need to discard these damaging body standards.
When Kim Kardashian lost a noticeable amount of weight, people online immediately jumped to proclaim that skinny was ‘in’ again. The expectations of women’s bodies shifted— now we were no longer expected to have that excellent hip-to-waist ratio (that many seemed to turn to surgical procedures to obtain). Instead, we had to lose that weight and change our shapes to fit an ever-changing body standard.
To many people who do not let this commentary affect them or those who do not exist in these online spaces, it may seem like this messaging is largely irrelevant or ineffectual. For too many people, though, this messaging significantly impacts their mental health and self-image— a consequence that could ultimately lead to unhealthy habits.
The problem (besides the obvious) is that body standards are 1) not attainable, 2) constantly changing, and 3) not actually universal. Anyone who works to fit them will never be satisfied.
You may have heard this before, but it is important to emphasize that what we see on social media is not real life. The celebrities and influencers whose bodies look ‘perfectly’ proportioned and whose faces look entirely unblemished use the tools at their disposal to make it seem that way. Their job largely entails making it seem that way. Working to look like them is fruitless because they do not even look like what we see of them online.
If you were aware of it, think of the chaos that ensued when an unfiltered picture of Khloe Kardashian in a bikini started circulating. Her team worked hard to get it off the internet entirely. Khloe herself remarked, “In truth, the pressure, constant ridicule, and judgment my entire life to be perfect and to meet other’s standards of how I should look has been too much to bear.” Celebrities and influencers cannot meet the standards of beauty they sell to us. We should not expect ourselves to meet them either.
As evidenced by the idea of skinny being ‘in’ again, body standards are also constantly changing. You may work hard (and unhealthily) to achieve one shape; soon enough, the pressure is on to become another. Bodies have become ‘trendy’— but the thing is, this isn’t necessarily new. Social media and the internet may exacerbate the speed of change, but body standards have continually changed throughout history. Women in ancient Greece may have coated their skin with white lead and bleached their hair with vinegar (exposing underlying racist aspects of beauty standards, which will not disappear) to achieve popular looks of the time. Women during the Renaissance period may have plucked their hair to make their foreheads appear larger. It is all relative.
Beauty is also entirely subjective. Realistically, people you interact with do not judge you if you do not meet the ‘perfect’ image sold to you. No one is critiquing your waist size or analyzing how crooked your teeth are. People have standards entirely separate from the ‘universal’ (but clearly not universal) body standard. Do not be discouraged if you don’t match it. You are beautiful.
Ultimately, this all leads to one final message, one resulting conclusion: discard beauty standards. They don’t matter. Find confidence in yourself and empowerment in the fact that the beauty standards we are sold are bigoted, exclusionary, pointless, and entirely fake— designed to make you insecure and ready to spend your money on beauty products. Take the radical approach and love yourself as you are.