The ideal female—predominately thin, yet impossibly toned and curvaceous, accompanied by perfect skin, teeth and hair.
I mean, let’s be honest with ourselves, ladies. Naturally, these standards are completely impossible to obtain. No one is born with an hour glass figure. Some people are blessed with beautiful teeth but unfortunately a lot of us had to get braces. And I don’t care if you have the prettiest skin alive, there will be flaws whether it be a few creases here and there or those dark circles underneath your eyes that you hate.
What I’m trying to say is that nobody is perfect, but unfortunately the media continues to define beauty by that of a woman who is. It bothers me especially when I see young women and girls everywhere trying to live up to a cultural norm that is so unrealistic and forever changing.
The media makes me sick with its extremely superficial and contradictory views of what true beauty really is.
Now men must be honest, too. Why is it that women have to comply with these standards and men don’t? I’m not saying that men aren’t judged based upon their appearance. I am saying that the pressure on women to be attractive and the lengths we are expected to go in order to be attractive is much more significant.
I mean, think about it. The probability of seeing an unattractive man with an attractive woman is much more likely to occur than that of a “not-so-good” looking female with a really good looking guy. I mean, why is it that women spend over an hour picking out a dress to wear and doing hair and makeup to go to a party and all guys have to do is throw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to go to the same exact function?
As defined by the media and promoted by every advertisement out there, the expectation of beauty is a bar that is set extremely high. The truth is, no one can live up to these expected societal beauty ideals naturally. Not even Beyoncé “woke up like this.” Why do you think women like Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian sustained so much plastic surgery? Why do you think models everywhere continue to be subjected to Photoshop and enhanced images? It is primarily because this artificial definition of beauty is exactly that—artificial and fabricated in every way.
Overall, the media promotes a distorted perception of what beauty really is, ultimately creating consciousness for people everywhere to try and obtain a norm that, by nature, nobody can.
So ladies, do not fall subject to the unrealistic cultural beauty standards of this century. Choose not to allow societal expectations to define how beautiful you are. And most importantly, when you get up in the morning, look in the mirror and keep in mind that beauty doesn’t need makeup, only confidence.