Synthesis Essay On Beauty Standards

People have been subjected to beauty standards that have been imposed on them since prehistoric times, especially women. In today’s world, we also have beauty standards for women such as fair or tan skin, plump lips, button noses and a slim or hourglass figure. I personally think that beauty standards should be inclusive, because these standards do not fit most people and not everyone is naturally gifted with these physical attributes. The idea of a perfect body is perpetuated through unrealistic photos of women and girls portrayed in the media is affecting women and young teenagers severely and needs to be changed.

So how are these standards affecting women? Society’s unrealistic body standards create an immense sense of pressure among women

At an early age, girls have been exposed to these beauty standards; in some toys like Barbie dolls and cartoons, they make the characters have unattainable physical bodies. Body standards are a social construct that are enforced in day to day interactions and are perpetuated by social media. On apps such as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, teenagers are exposed to endless posts of the “ideal” body type, particularly by Instagram models and influencers. A 2015 study by Laura Romo held a focus group with Mexican American adolescent females to discuss their views on body image and the media. Most of the girls said they were aware that being thin is the standard of beauty as shown by white women in movies, television shows, advertisements, and so forth. And, although many of them admire some of the curvier bodies in the media (some mentioned Beyoncé and Selena), they sometimes still feel pressure of reflecting the mainstream ideal of being thin. One 16-year-old girl in the focus group said “in white culture basically you just have to be skinny. Because you see it on TV, you see it on magazines, you see it everywhere. Everywhere you go, you basically hear that you are supposed to be like that.” If this is what girls of color are seeing in the media, you can imagine how that affects their own body