With the rapid increase of time spent on social media, the focus on appearance has become a large part of society. Whether it’s comparing two people, solely judging others, or criticising yourself, people are obsessed with depicting how attractive someone is perceived. Would you believe me if I told you that I took a survey at my college, and 5 out of 6 young girls are actively bothered by the idea that they believe do not fit the beauty standard?
Additionally, the conversation.com states that ‘between 30% and 40% of men are anxious about their weight and that up to 85% are dissatisfied with their muscularity. It is highly likely that you have seen someone in college or the media that you admire, thinking they are unbelievably lucky due to their appearance, but realistically, they have just as many insecurities of their own. Unfortunately, people envying the looks of another can easily lead to conflict with themselves; it creates unnecessary criticism.
This easily leads to projection of insecurities within social media. Even though young people are searching for comfort when expressing their low self-esteem, it leads to a spiral of viewers being forced into thinking they also have something wrong with them. For example, people around college have stated that prior to the mass use of TikTok, they never felt insecure about stretch marks, body hair, hip dips and many more natural, uncontrollable body features that are sadly frowned upon in the media. This generation has created unrealistic expectations for how someone should look, by explicitly attacking their own appearance. Rather than looking for positives, we subconsciously search for a negative at once meaning that it is practically impossible for someone to not critique themselves on an aspect of how they look. This is because society has influenced everyone to become dangerously consumed by their appearance.
Therefore, this proposes the question: Does anyone truly fit the beauty standard? Society, as a whole, has become so obsessed with the idea of how they look, leading people to immediately find something in their appearance to criticise the moment they feel as though they look good.
This makes it impossible for people to feel as though they align with the beauty standard. You may believe that one of your friends is this so-called beauty standard, yet they may desire your insecurities and long to look like you. Even celebrities who you adore, because they appear to be perfect and seem to be exempt of flaws, have insecurities. Supermodel Bella Hadid told Vogue “I was the uglier sister. I was brunette”, proving that no one will ever feel enough for society’s standards.
Ultimately, the beauty standard is a toxic social construct created out of people’s own deteriorating self-esteem in an unhealthy attempt to bring comfort to each other. Before you allow yourself to admire someone else’s beauty at your own expense, remember, is likely they are doing the same with a feature you consider ‘ugly’.