The detrimental effect of beauty standards on young women

 

From: Berta

One Of the main causes of insecurities subside on beauty standards that have been built upon society, mainly targeting youth. In this photo I have decided to dive deeper into how unrealistic beauty standards, build upon insecurities on younger women, the way media and men thrive off of the insecurities of young women, and how it can negatively impact mental health on adolescent women. The main thing used in this picture is the idea of gaze, specifically the male gaze. I use the shadow of a man, overpowering the beauty of a woman. On the left I provide a picture of myself. A girl who is not dolled up and does not follow society's standards of what it means to be beautiful. On the left I am looking up, although more in an insecure and timid way, little confidence, and below the camera, emphasizing that I am below the beauty standards. I decided to keep my glasses on for the left side of the image, as it is one of the things society has belittles adolescent women for, not so much now, but definitely in the earlier days. There is a mirror in the background, which shows my reflection, although not the same one on the left side. This reflection shows a more confident girl, a version of me that has changed, and followed the path of least resistance, by wearing a dress, and looking more girly. On the left part of my image, my face is dull, serious, somber, as I am not showing any emotion, in order to portray how the unrealistic beauty standards that society has built has already caused me to see myself as less, and in that sense, unhappy and insecure. In my reflection, my face is more bright and cheerful, as I have complied with society's rules, and am now accepted, and praised. In the image, the shadow of a man is shown, looking at my reflection, analyzing what he can fix. In my reflection, it shows how men and society have caused me to change the way In look, this shadow of a man symbolizes power, and societal views, it is not merely just a man, but society in total, who have cause me and young women to change our image in order to merely be accepted and desired. Although in the reflection I have complied with society, I show myself in the corner, with less space, while the shadow of the man is taking up more space. This describes how even though I have changed myself for society, I am still looked down upon, because society will never be satisfied, as they always nick pick what the meaning of beauty is. The last part of the image I want to explain is the color. I have decided to use darker colors, as this image symbolizes my mind and inner thoughts. Even if I change everything about myself, I will always not be completely happy, as society will always have a way of bringing down young women, negatively impacting mental health.