Unrealistic Beauty Standards

Magazines are a large part of our society, whether it is when they are featured in commercials, seen in stores, or on social media including the magazine's website. This means that people, especially women, are exposed to images of women who are seen as perfect, women who are often photo shopped beyond recognition and realistic possibility. These magazines often offer beauty and fashion advice, and discuss celebrity gossip. However, magazines often depict unrealistic beauty standards and perpetuate double-standards between women and men, particularly regarding age. One magazine cover in particular, a People Magazine with Julia Roberts on the cover, discusses the concept of "staying forever young." The People magazine cover from May 1, 2017

This leads to "women viewing their bodies as a never-ending project, with the goal of appearing as a younger woman" (Martens, in class). The more women are expected to appear youthful, the more society pushes these beauty standards which in turn perpetuates the issue and allows skin care companies to continue profiting off an abundance of anti-aging skin care products. Not only are these skin care products often expensive, they are almost exclusively targeted towards women rather than for both women and men. This perpetuates the double-standards of beauty for women and men. Men are not expected to purchase such products and are often praised for their aging, leading them to not having to worry about their skin or appearance as they age, while women continue to fork out money to meet unrealistic

When comparing Julia Roberts' cover to Blake Shelton's it becomes apparent how there is a double-standard when it comes to how the media portrays men and women. Other ads and magazines, as well as other forms of media, have shown throughout the history to repeat the same unrealistic beauty standard, focusing on perfection rather than realistic women and their true selves. Further, it demonstrates how women are not allowed to be sexy once they reach a certain age, while men become sexier with age and often are praised for signs of aging, such as grey hair. Magazines such as these can lead to self-esteem issues in women, particularly young girls who look at forms of media to get a sense of societal expectations. In order to fix this issue, magazines need to be cognizant of how their images and portrayals of women and men can impact people's images of themselves and others. Beauty standards may never go away, but they may become more realistic overtime, resulting in women not having to face such unrealistic beauty ideals, and for men to be able to see women as their natural selves without needing photo shop to be