Female Beauty Standards in America-Jessalina Wong

Female Beauty Standards in America

What's the Issue

When scrolling on social media, what do we see? Cute dogs doing tricks and being happy, shirtless men with six-packs and huge biceps, or women with flat stomach and perfect tans? In the age of social media, we are constantly bombarded with images of people with perfect bodies. We're constantly reminded that we're not beautiful unless we have the perfect hourglass figure. American beauty standards are based on flawless hair, perfectly done makeup, big breasts, the smallest waist, and a big butt. From a young age, we were showed that we can be the perfect woman by the iconic doll, Barbie, but it could only be achieved if we looked like her. So, what's the big issue? The issue with these unattainable standards is that it teaches females at a young age that you're worth in society is measure by your looks. This puts a huge strain many young women and their psyches if they're constantly looked down on for not meeting these beauty standards. It causes a drop in self-esteem and can even cause serious issues like depression, eating disorders, or suicide.

Research 

Facts

• The main focus of dissatisfaction for most women looking in the mirror is the size and shape of their bodies, particularly their hips, waist, and thighs
• Beautiful people make about 5% more than their average-looking colleagues
• People who are unhappy with their bodies and don't seek healthy nutrition information may develop eating disorders. "Eating disorders" are unhealthy relationships with food that may include fasting, constant dieting, or binging and purging
• Students, especially women, who consume more mainstream media, place a greater importance on sexiness and overall appearance than those who do not consume as much

Statistics

• In a survey, 81% of ten-year-old girls had already been on a diet at least once
• During a study conducted by Harvard University, two thirds of underweight 12-year-old girls considered themselves fat
• By 13, 50% of those girls were significantly unhappy about their appearances
• By 14, the girls had focused and specific dissatisfaction in their appearances; especially in their hips and thighs
• By 17, 3 out of 10 of the girls have not been on a diet. 8 out of 10 were unhappy with what they saw in the mirror
• In some studies, up to 80% of women over-estimated their size
• 58% of college-aged girls feel pressured to be a certain weight
• In a survey, more than 40% of women agreed they would consider cosmetic surgery in the future. The statistics remain relatively constant across gender, age, marital status, and race

Personal Experiences

Growing up in an Asian American household, appearances was something that is continuously talked about. When I was younger, I was constantly being looked down on because I was underweight and tanned easily. Even with being underweight, I was constantly being told that I was fat and "too big". As I got older, these beauty standards played a consistent role in my upbringing; when I started college I started getting more interested in sports like powerlifting and bouldering which are sports that caused me to noticeably gain muscle. When I started gaining more weight, whether it be muscle or fat, I would constantly hear from my mom and aunts that I "wouldn't find a boyfriend since I'm too big", "people won't like you since you're big", "you'd be prettier if you were skinnier", "don't get too much muscle it looks too manly", etc. Being bombarded with comments about my weight and size completely destroyed my self-esteem and made it very hard for me to look at myself in the mirror without seeing myself as a fat blob. To this day I still struggle with looking at myself in the mirror when I'm trying on clothes because all I see are all those negative comments that have been so ingrained in my mind. Even with all of those negative comments, I think I'm truly lucky because I have an amazing group of friends and boyfriend that have been slowly helping me relearn my self-worth and give me back my self confidence. 
Interviews

Cindy Su

"The female beauty standard in America is disproportional and is harmful for younger females. The idea is having big breasts and butt while at the same time having a 24 inch waist which isn't possible naturally without the help of plastic surgery. Growing up, I didn't feel like I was too affected by the American beauty standards since I wasn't exposed to it as often as others, but I had my parents continuously reminding me that being beautiful meant you were less than 100 pounds and light skinned. I didn't realize how much this put a strain on myself until I recently visited my parents and was constantly reminded that I'm not as skinny as I was in high school; when I had an eating disorder."

Jessica Oshiro

"I feel like the female beauty standard further enforces patriarchy. There are so many rules for how women should look, but men can just come as they are and be accepted. I experienced having to meet those standards by having to wear dresses and makeup to events that were considered formal even though I dislike both those things. Weight and size are always a topic of conversation that is pushed onto girls. Being a girl with tattoos/piercings is considered being "cool" and "edgy" to a limit until it's considered grotesque. Growing up, the expectations made me really self-conscious. I internalized external opinions. I wasted a lot of money and energy trying to look cool.

Jazmin Marin

"Growing up, I did feel like I had to meet female beauty standards especially seeing all the skinny models on TV. At a certain point I tried to meet those standards and had some success in doing so. However, as I grew up, I started to realize that those standards were BS and learned to accept myself no matter my body type or the way I looked. I do feel that having to meet those standards held me back for a couple of years in trying to define who I was as a female"

Kimberly Bolaoen (no image)

"I think that female beauty standards are unrealistic and it has made some women go to extreme lengths to try to fit that standard; like surgery of face or body, excessive makeup, etc. even when their health is being compromised in the long-term since surgeries can go wrong. I have experienced trying to somehow get as close as I can get to meeting those beauty standards so that I can be 'pretty'  and thinking back on it, it made me feel like I had to change so many things about myself because I thought everything looked 'wrong'; especially when I was younger and didn't really know myself then. I feel like thinking that I HAVE to meet these standards really messed with my head and self-esteem and it took me a while for me to gain back the feelings of being 'worth it' with what I got"

Sarah Herrera (no image)

"I feel female standards are horrible; you're expected to meet these standards in everyday lifestyle. You see beautiful women at every CVS ,or other stores, selling products and vehicles and we are supposed to look a certain way and if you don't you're considered ugly in the eyes of society. I feel, for me, meeting these standards meant having to save up money to get a lip injection, a boob job, or liposuction just to be considered beautiful. I, personally, went through weight loss surgery and I still feel I'm not good enough for society when growing up I looked up to Brittney Spears and JLO. I wanted to to be a size zero and since I never met that expectation I fell into depression; getting mad at my mom for not buying me the latest makeup or clothing and blaming my mom for why I am fat. Now that I'm older I still feel like it plays an important role in my life and I 100% would not have gotten the weight loss surgery if I didn't have to. I did it for my health, but in my head I thought I was gonna be a beautiful woman when in reality I really do need to start loving myself to find beauty."

Call to Action

So after all of this, what can we do to put an end to all the hurt being felt? Sadly, the issue isn't as simple as telling people to ignore beauty standards because it just isn't that easy of a fix. There isn't much that we can do to completely do away with beauty standards that are set within our societies, but there are small changes that we can make to change how we react to these beauty standards. The most important thing that we can do, no matter the gender, is give ourselves self-love and reminding ourselves that our self-worth isn't measure by what we look like. Instead of surrounding ourselves with all these negative feelings, we can choose to uplift ourselves and others around us in order to take the power away from those that tell us that we aren't beautiful because we don't look like the "ideal" woman. Lastly, an important thing to remember is that you're beautiful no matter your size, age, ethnicity, gender. 

References

ASAPS: The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (2014), Survey finds that women are more likely to consider plastic surgery than they were ten years ago. Retrieved from http://www.surgery.org/media/news-releases/survey-finds-that-women-are-more-likely-to-consider-plastic-surgery-than-they-were-ten-years-ago
Fox, K. (1997), Mirror mirror. Social Issues Research Centre. Retrieved from
www.sirc.org/publik/mirror.html
Good Therapy. (2014), Eating and food issues. Retrieved from http://www.goodtherapy.org/therapy-for-eating-disorders.html.
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (2015), Eating disorders statistics. ANAD. Retrieve from http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/.
Palmer, Mario (2014). 5 facts about body image." Amplify. Retrieved from http://amplifyyourvoice.org/u/marioapalmer/2013/05/21/byob-be-your-own-beautiful.
Spector, D. (2012). 11 more fascinating facts about beauty. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-beauty-2012-5