Beauty Standards in American’s teens

From: Sarah

Beauty standards exists in America. To be attractive you have to wear certain cloths, make up, have your hair done, be a certain weight, eat certain foods, and you must always look your best, or what the world has deemed “the best”. Many of these standards are based from magazines, models, and of course the rich and famous. Feminine beauty is described as this; “the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of women’s most important assets and something all women should strive to achieve and maintain.” (Huffington Post) Breaking that statement apart; the world is saying you must always look attractive, you must always be made up, you must always be dressed a certain way, you have to have a body like Beyoncé and a booty like Kim Kardashian, and that it’s important for a woman to do so and it’s something that all women should strive for. This is how the beauty standard was born. With these standards it becomes hard for women to fit in, to fill this specific mold that was created.

Lauren’s photo essay was a great example of this. Her essay showed what women were forced to wear to look attractive. One example was those small shoes on her big feet, along with seeing scratches on the girl’s feet, making a statement that being pretty hurts. One photograph is even of a younger girl who says, “There is so much peer pressure”, relating to the fact that everyone has to look the same, a standard, instead of being comfortable with their actual selves. She showed images of women just being themselves too, going against these beauty standards, in hopes of one day breaking these standards. Her photo essay is a great reflection of the standards that exists in the world today and how they are affecting the younger women.

 Disney movies play a huge role to in creating these standards and encouraging them on younger kids. They have these princesses; that are innocent, have tiny waist, with their bust bulging out, half dressed in skimpy clothing and even have them using their beauty to get what they want in some films. This right here is creating a model for younger kids, showing them that if you dress like this, act like this towards a man, you can get whatever you want or need from a man. It also shows younger kids that you should be this skinny, wear make up to make yourself pretty, in order to be liked and find your prince, which sets a beauty standard for all to follow. This creates a negative standard on the young, because instead of them growing up knowing that they can be themselves, they now have these beauty standards pushed upon them.

Schools specifically have beauty standards. If you aren’t wearing this brand, this make up, your shirt a certain way, you aren’t attractive and no one will bat an eye your way. This mold, idea, actually tears young women apart, because they want to dress a certain way that they are comfortable with, but in result will be made fun of.

In this photograph, the female standing in front of the mirror is confronted with a conflict every time she wants to go out or must get dressed for school.  Her reflection shows these standards that the world has come to live by, while her self-image shows what she is most comfortable in, going against the standards. The angle of this photo allows the viewer to see the self-conflict, the beauty standard being pushed upon her verses what she wants to wear and how she is comfortable in her own skin mold, not a mold placed upon her.  Her emotion is strong with how she feels about these standards, black and white explains her sadness, hate that she cannot be herself when she steps out in public, and that there’s the standards for how she needs to look. The color represents the real world, how she’s supposed to dress and supposed to feel, happy and energetic, not herself, following these standards. Beauty standards like these exist in our everyday life because we let media influence us, what other people think influence us. If we stepped back from it all one day and ignored these standards, they would no longer exist.