What are beauty standards? Who decides these beauty standards?
Beauty standards are just a myth that humans, especially women are made to believe in. Beauty is a tool that people use to propagate their idea of beauty which is completely baseless. White skin, beautiful hair, slim body, no acne, hairless body, no stretch marks, and what not! Nowadays, beauty is not measured by uniqueness, but by the size of one’s waist. In order to be portrayed as beautiful, people especially women must attain these unattainable and unrealistic beauty standards. There is constant pressure to look perfect. Perfection is a delusion that is ailing humans. Body standards are a construct that is propagated by social media. On apps such as Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, people are witnessing things that make them believe their beauty is less than the others, people believe that their personality isn’t enough to please the world. Everyone is so competitive that they try to harm themselves in order to achieve the so-called “perfection”. Beauty standards are forcing us to have the need to be better or desired than others. Everyone is getting affected by the beauty standards whether a male or a female, men are required to have a perfect body, such as a muscular figure whereas everything is wrong with women if they don’t attain the beauty standards that society has set up for them. Beauty standards take a toll on mental health, people experience low self-esteem because of this false portrayal of beauty and it is destroying their sanity. Real beauty is in accepting ourselves the way we are and not trying to be someone else. Real beauty comes when we do not compare ourselves with others and try to attain the so-called “beauty standards”, real beauty is in being imperfect, real beauty is in not hating the normal things in our body. Real beauty is in ourselves.
There’s a song by Alessia Cara “ Scars to your beautiful” that says:-
There’s a hope that’s waiting for you in the dark
You should know you’re beautiful just the way you are
And you don’t have to change a thing
The world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful
We’re stars and we’re beautiful.
And indeed we all are beautiful just the way we are!