By Anoushka Mirchandani
Body standards have existed for centuries and are highly dynamic, particularly for women. The concept of the ideal physique has become a lot more rigid as well as unrealistic to achieve throughout time. This is evident when examining the fickle nature of body standards, which has only been further accentuated by social media and unrealistic beauty ideals through the years of what an ideal body should look like. Having a set norm for how a body should look can have an adverse impact on society where people are compelled to meet unrealistic expectations. This not only impacts their behaviour patterns but also the need to undergo cosmetic surgery in order to keep up appearances and be more accepted among peers.
Social media, newspapers, magazines, and even television tend to set unrealistically high expectations for people’s bodies. Most individuals try their hardest to fit into the mould of what is deemed attractive. However, it is never enough, and this leads to unnecessary vilification. Women must be thin but not too skinny, and they may apply cosmetics but not excessively so as to appear as if they are "trying too hard". They can expose some skin, but not too much, otherwise, they will be ridiculed. These unrealistic standards that are fueled by social media do precious little to improve one’s self-esteem and lead to unhealthy behaviour patterns. According to a NEDA article titled "Body Image and Eating Disorders", over half of adolescent girls skip meals, starve, engage in addictive behaviour, regurgitate, and take diet pills to manage their weight. However, body consciousness can begin as early as 5-8 years old. According to the article, 40-60% of primary school girls are anxious about their weight. Exposure to unrealistic beauty standards, particularly at a young age, can have negative repercussions such as eating disorders or in extreme cases, suicide.
Beauty standards change all the time, and today's norm is nothing like one of the earliest representations of an idealised woman. The Venus of Willendorf, a statue created between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE, is a symbol of fertility. Curvy and a touch overweight was the optimal body type during that period. A good body was one that could birth many children and enabled you to survive, so it was natural to have a large, healthy physique. Looking back to earlier times, in 1558, Queen Elizabeth was crowned Queen, culminating the makeup phase. A pale complexion was desirable in Victorian England since it indicated that you had never worked in the sunlight and was a major indicator of wealth and privilege. Women were so determined to attain their desired appearance, that they would go so far as to poison themselves with arsenic and ammonia. Corsets were also a huge part of the lifestyle of Victorians, and they rapidly became a popular practice. Women began wearing corsets at an early age and continued to wear them throughout their lives, even if they were pregnant. This sparked the hourglass figure craze among women, which quickly spread throughout the globe. By the 1930s, the hourglass figure was still extremely popular and was further promoted by Marilyn Monroe and the Golden Girl of Hollywood in the USA. The expectation shifted from curvaceous to resembling a stick figure in the 1990s where women who seemed fragile and skinny were idealised. At the time, famous celebrities such as model Kate Moss were the faces of this ideal body.
According to the societal norms of today, men must be at least six feet tall, have wide shoulders, and a six-pack. It is expected of women to be impossibly thin, with a small waist and curves. These standards are set in stone and there is no room for any grey area. However, the modelling business is becoming more accepting of women of all ethnicities and body types, and is an evolving beauty standard of our times. This is a significant advancement from previous years as it demonstrates to both adolescents and women that anyone can be a role model. Women and men are harshly judged in today's society for failing to meet the proper beauty standards. Furthermore, the media exclusively depicts women as ideal models with highly sexualized and glamorous appearances. For the majority of the time, these flawless women are coated in makeup and have perfectly done hair that took hours to obtain. This type of marketing conjures up an image of the perfect lady. By doing so, numerous beauty and cosmetic firms make a cruel profit off these young adults, who, like everyone else, just want to look and feel their best. This causes insecurity in these early teens, leading them to try to hide any perceived flaws that make them feel uneasy. This ensures that make-up and other hair and wellness product companies will have a constant stream of revenue, knowing that they will have a loyal customer base that includes teens and young adults.
Photoshop and cosmetic surgeries are detrimental beauty standards attributed to Hollywood. This instils in young people and women the belief that if they don't like their appearance, they should seek surgery or utilize a filter to alter their appearance. In today's day and age, cosmetic surgery has become normalised and is heavily promoted by celebrities who partake in it. This influences young teens to get work done as they deem plastic surgery as normal. Body shaming should never have existed, and it is encouraging to see that some people are now rejecting it in favour of encouraging people to appreciate their bodies and be comfortable in their own skin without the fear of being judged.
Overall, body standards encourage people to make unhealthy decisions and live unhealthy lifestyles. As a community, we should abandon aesthetic ideals in favour of fostering body positivity and we must no longer associate beauty with physical appearance, ethnicity, or size. Body positivity will almost certainly lower the number of eating disorders, teen cosmetic surgeries and boost self-esteem in the long run.
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