Entry #8 - Unrealistic Beauty
Middle school and high school years are one of the most crucial parts in the developmental phase in a person's life. This time is filled with confusion, anxiety, and years spent trying to figure out your identity. While all of these feelings are prevalent, imagine being told your body is not good enough or the way you look is not considered beautiful because you do not look like the size zero models that have been photo-shopped and retouched hundreds of times, fillings these young minds with unrealistic beauty standards.
Today's image of the ideal beauty is so far unattainable, that even the models who represent "beauty" can not obtain the standard that has been set. The challenges faced with the toxic beauty standards begin with the idea of the perfect body. These ideal body shapes consist of being thin with extremely low body fat, creating the toned look. The image these standards portray, embrace, and promote unhealthy eating habits, extreme exercise, and eventually leading to mental health problems and eating disorders.
The pressures associated with these standards lead to self-dout, negative body image, anxiety and depression. The National Library of Medicine did a report that showed 20-30 percent of women struggle to find confidence in their bodies. These numbers of body dysphoria have increased over the years due to the rise of social media and editing of these images. Women and men often find themselves comparing their own bodies and looks to these models that are supposed to represent beauty.
Olivia Free writes:
Women are falsely portrayed in these types of advertisements, causing developing girls and women to feel guilt and shame when comparing themselves. The negative effects of fashion and beauty advertisements among women include unrealistic expectations, objectification, and sexualization.Constantly seeing these falsely portrayed women can cause eating disorders that result in bodies becoming brittle and frail from the lack of nutrition needed to provide a healthy lifestyle.
Telling women, young children, and even men their bodies are not acceptable because they do not fit the beauty standard is detrimental to ones physical and mental health and companies do not see the problem as they continue to fill these young minds with the toxic idea of beauty.
Thank you for this post! I agree with you, the way that thought and opinions about having the "perfect body" are pushed on women and girls is a major problem in our current society. I read a book that discussed this very topic once, and at one point the book told me to complete an exercise. It said to close my eyes and think of the most beautiful woman that I know. I was reading the book with my sister, and I learned that oftentimes, we have very different ideas of what is considered "beautiful." While media has set a standard, we have our own standards that we set for ourselves. After that exercise, the book had us think about one physical feature that we would change about ourselves. I told my sister and my mom what I would change, and they were shocked. They never would have guessed what I said, which just further proved the point that we tend to be our own worst critics. Whenever I am in doubt about my own physical appearance, I consider Psalm 139:13-14 in the Bible, which says, "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
ReplyDeleteNice blog entry GraceLyn. While I am not a woman who can say firsthand that I have experienced this, I am writing about a topic in my final essay that similar to your idea here. Men that go to the gym want to achieve the "perfect body" such as how you explained in your blog. Yet, the people we get our inspiration from online have tweaked the way they looked in order to appear more "beautiful" or having a "nicer body", and therefore it becomes unrealistic, falling into a cycle of never being satisfied with our looks.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, being in middle and high school is a confusing enough time for young people. This combined with the fact a standard is being pushed which is beyond attainable even for the models themselves can leave young people feeling like there is something wrong with them unless they also push themselves to the extreme to create a body which fits the standard but is not healthy. Its a formula for anorexia and other eating disorders which not only exists but is pushed onto younger and younger people. -Emily Odogui-Cruz
ReplyDeleteHigh school is such an important part of the development of yourself. Finding your interests and what your style is. Social media creating unrealistic standards for men and women has hurt our high schools student incredibly.
ReplyDeleteI can relate with your post. I struggled with my identity and body image during my teenage years. I compared myself to others around me and wanted to look like them and do what they do. It doesn’t have to be on social media but just people you find in school depicting false identity can have an impact on these teenagers.
ReplyDeleteRashida
DeleteVery good topic, people should be more considerate of peoples feelings.
ReplyDeleteI love this post! You are right high school and middle school are definitely a confusing time. There are definitely a lot of unrealistic standards that are hard to get over when constantly comparing yourself.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you mentioned both men and women in your post as these unrealistic beauty standards tend to affect everyone. I agree and don't like how promoted overexercising and unsustainable diets are as they only end up doing more harm. I also find issue with companies not thinking about youth and how these type of images and messages can affect them, especially with anorexia being the most fatal mental disorder.
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog entry, thank you for writing this! There is far much pressure placed onto young women to fit society's image of the perfect body figure. Every woman's body is beautiful and it is unfair society shames even young girls for not fitting the standard image. High school and middle school is already tough enough to make it through never mind the added stress of how those around you choose to judge your body type. Body image should not be determined by what other people think of you but rather the confidence you have in your own body image.
ReplyDeleteBeauty standards need to be talked about more because they affect a huge population. Many problems such as insecurities, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, etc. are caused by unrealistic beauty standards. Social media is a big contributor to these standards and they are getting out of hand. There is a point, either too skinny or too big, where it is unhealthy, but everyone should love the body they have. Being confident and happy with your body is hard, but it is important. Thanks for writing about this topic!
ReplyDelete-Gabby Smith
GraceLyn--These last two entries are great, and make a nice finish to the blog project (other than missing 2). You have interesting, relevant topics that are discussed very well, and you lay out a blog that is engaging and supported. Good job. I hope you will keep blogging!
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