How Beauty Standards Became Unrealistic in The U.S.
Before you compare yourself to images you see in the media, consider the following: what you see may not be real.
When I was 16, I wanted to be a Suicide Girl. I wanted my photos to be plastered on the internet, and maybe even a few people’s walls. My only aspiration was to become beautiful, because, for some reason, I foolishly thought if I was beautiful then I would be happy and everything else in my life would be easier (and how could I not when the media I was exposed to consistently showed thin, happy, successful women in the limelight?) Instead what I found was six-plus years of body dissatisfaction, insecurity, bulimia, and body dysmorphia. Now having recovered, I’m left with a keen view on body image depictions in front of me, and there’s something unsettling in view; social media culture is obsessed with unrealistic body proportions and beauty standards.
Instead of leaving this observation up to my perceptions of body image, I decided to do some research into what was going on with our proportionally manipulated beauty standard. It turns out I wasn’t wrong. What I found was a body of literature outlining our slow route away from realistic beauty standards, its impact on the adolescent population, and where beauty standards, inadvertently propelled by social media, have landed us now.
Is it just me, or are our beauty standards at a full flight from reality?
Beauty standards and trends have always existed all over the world. Think of women wearing corsets, or binding their feet to fit into tiny shoes, and the ultra-thinness of the high fashion modeling industry. Beauty trends in the U.S. have been particularly troubling even before social media came into the frame. A 2008 paper published in Adolescent Medicine trails the change in beauty ideals in the early 2000’s, citing how women in magazines and beauty contests were ranging in smaller and smaller BMI ranges, veering into the underweight range, while the average woman in the U.S. was becoming heavier. Furthermore, the paper reminds us of all the factors which go into a famous person’s public image: nutritionists, fitness trainers, eating disorders, and Photoshop. Often times the images we see in the media aren’t realistically achievable or bodies that even belong to the person displaying it.
Today’s beauty standard can be identified by the voluptuous hourglass figure, with hips so wide it’s nearly unbelievable.
Since the early 2000’s our technology has improved, alongside the general population’s knowledge of pixel manipulation in the media. After Dove’s “real beauty campaign” (no matter what opinion you have on that marketing approach) and a slew of famous people’s vocal dissent for certain beauty standards, all this may be no surprise to the adult population. But what about the younger generation, the children born into Gen Z who are thrust into the technological age from day 1? A lot of Gen Z are in their most formative years and are bombarded by media images every day, most likely without knowing that what they are seeing are not real depictions of people. Research indicates that the internalization of unrealistic beauty standards can prompt unhealthy weight management methods, anxiety, and depression.
A lot of Gen Z are in their most formative years and are bombarded by media images every day, most likely without knowing that what they are seeing are not real depictions of people.
I have a teenage sister, and I’m watching her make the same comments I made in my head at her age, “Oh, look at how pretty she is”. “Ugh I look terrible there. No, no don’t look at that picture.” She’s taking part in the TikTok phenomenon, and there’s no doubt she’s comparing herself to other young girls and women online. It’s nearly impossible not to. Now with the added layer of filters, apps such as Facetune, and Photoshop-like modifications installed within our phones’ photo editor, users can make sure only their “best” looking, enhanced photos represent them.
Social Media Filters and “Selfie Dysmorphia”
“Selfie dysmorphia” is a branch of body dysmorphic disorder, a disorder where someone becomes distressed over an imagined or minor factor of their image.
“Selfie dysmorphia” is a branch of body dysmorphic disorder, a disorder where someone becomes distressed over an imagined or minor factor of their image. In the case of selfie dysmorphia, distress is caused by one’s perception of facial features. As plastic surgeon Charles D. Slack explains, anyone spending a lot of time taking selfies, posting selfies, and adjusting selfies are susceptible to “self dysmorphia” or “Snapchat dysmorphia”. Dr. Slack also goes on to say a photo represents a person, at an angle, under a certain type of lighting. It’s not a true representation of us as 3D beings. As social media filters offer people an alternative to their everyday faces, there’s been a trend of potential patients referencing filtered selfies as their desired plastic surgery outcome.
Social Media and Filters Are Helping Warp Our Perceptions of Beauty
The reason for this being is because the underlying context of social media is taking one’s life and placing snippets of it online; this makes it dangerously easy for an audience to mistake social media as an accurate view of someone’s life. Coupled with filters, additional lighting, angles, and apps like Facetune, it’s possible to completely alter the way you look by merely using your phone. We take innumerable photos and videos making sure we only work with and post the ones which we look best in. And if you’re on social media, you are most likely bombarded with photos of people and their body compositions whenever you’re online. The more attention someone’s content gets, the more we automatically assume they’re doing something right that we aren’t.
The more attention someone’s content gets, the more we automatically assume they’re doing something right that we aren’t.
Of course, social media and beauty standards would not survive without us, the people using these apps and perpetuating current trends. It’s understandable why people would rather tweak their photos than post raw, unedited ones. As photographer and social critic James Welsh claims in his video, it’s no wonder people feel the need to use Photoshop and Facetune. A woman never looks perfect enough for society’s standards, especially when anyone on the world wide web is free to comment on her physique. As a society, we are quick to comment on someone’s weight, makeup, and overall appearance when it doesn’t suit society’s or our own taste.
Backlash at Current Beauty Standards
During a time when we’re watching celebrity faces and bodies morph right before our eyes (seriously look at a young Nicki Minaj and compare her image then to now, and Kim Kardashian’s too!), it’s refreshing to see people take a stand against toxic and unrealistic beauty standards. In 2015 Zendaya called out a magazine for slimming her already tiny frame in a promotional shoot. In 2016 Alicia Keys wrote an article about why she decided to go the #nomakeup route and has since stuck with it. Professional photographer Jessica Kobeissi makes videos where she closely analyzes the use of Photoshop in photos and helps viewers identify photo manipulation themselves. And, of course, here I am telling you, “Hey! Our beauty standards are at a full-flight from reality!”
I’m really glad my initial plan to become an alternative model and Suicide Girl never came to be. It came from a place of insecurity and internal pain. In a world obsessed with keeping up with appearances, there’s something refreshing about owning who and what you are without trying to impress an audience. So I dare you to be you: no filter, no edits, no perfect angles. Just you, the person you are when you wake up, the person who shows up and lives life every day in 3D.
