Beauty : The Definition Of Beauty And Beauty Standards

First, women have a long history of the ideal body image that started in the early 1800’s with voluptuous figures that were made for child bearing, to the skinny boyish figure of the flapper in the 1920’s, and then the glamourous figure of Marilyn Monroe in the 1950’s. Today in society the ideal body image of women appears very slender, with flawless skin on television shows about dancing, reality television, and even sitcoms. In

Beauty standards are portrayed everywhere: on magazines, social media, ads, commercials, and even flaunted among peers. While the ideals are supposed to promote health awareness, fitness motivation, and self love, it unfortunately results in many unfavorable consequences. Women are constantly “penalized for not being beautiful and at the same time are stigmatized, even pathologized, for not feeling beautiful, for having low self-esteem, for engaging in behaviors like dieting and excessive exercising, or for having eating disorders” (Johnston and Taylor 954). Beauty standards are unrealistic and unhealthy to pursue, and misinforms the public on what true beauty is. While not all beauty image ideals promote negative feelings and dissatisfaction, many believe that the negative effects far outweighs any positive effects.

The ideal female body has changed over time in the history of America. In the 17th century a

In America eating disorders are a pressing issue and are growing in popularity among women of all ages. These eating disorders are caused by many factors including one 's body image which is influenced by a person environment. A big influence on women 's body image today is fashion and media, many women look to magazines, television, and celebrities to get tips on beauty and the perfect body. The one problem with media is the size of models has declined immensely over the years to a very slim size. Many women become dissatisfied with their bodies when they see that they do not fit the ideal body shape that these women in the media have. Although it was not always ideal to be slim the growing use of slender models in fashion and media has impacted women 's body image caused women to become more dissatisfied with their bodies and develop eating disorders. Women are impacted by the women they see on television and movies which in most cases are very slim. Along with television, slender women are seen in advertisements are seen in magazines and billboards which reach women every day. Fashion is also known to commonly use very slender models since the turn of the century. Slender models are used in all aspects of fashion from runway shows to online shopping. All of these different media outlets make a big impression on women, and many feel pressured to fit the ideal body type media has brought forward. When

From ancient Greece to modern day, society often tries to define what the ideal body image for humanity is. Beauty, height, and body weight all have to be in a perfect ratio with each other so one can be deemed to be perfect. The truth however, is that only a few can ever live up to society's expectations of elegance. In the short story “Fat Girl”, a girl named Louise struggles with her weight. Louise’s mother, Carrie her friend, and her husband Richard all try to change her, even if it means changing her identity and ruining her happiness.

“To be happy and successful, you must be thin,” is a message women are given at a very young age (Society and Eating Disorders). In fact, eating disorders are still continuously growing because of the value society places on being thin. There are many influences in society that pressures females to strive for the “ideal” figure. According to Sheldon’s research on, “Pressure to be Perfect: Influences on College Students’ Body Esteem,” the ideal figure of an average female portrayed in the media is 5’11” and 120 pounds. In reality, the average American woman weighs 140 pounds at 5’4”. The societal pressures come from television shows, diet commercials, social media, peers, magazines and models. However, most females do not take into account of the beauty photo-shop and airbrushing. This ongoing issue is to always be a concern because of the increase in eating disorders.

Everywhere you look we have billboards, posters, ads, and magazines with images of beautiful people on them. It is these pictures that capture not only their physical perfection, but their delightful lives; the majority of them portraying females. Women full of happiness and sheer bliss including their super brilliant white teeth, long luscious hair, and sexy curves sending a message that if we can posses these attributes then we, too can have a satisfactory life. Beyoncé recently addressed the issue of unattainable beauty standards, as well as the struggle for true happiness in her new song and music video “Pretty Hurts” where she depicts how obsessively hurtful it is to want to be perfect or the epitome of beauty. Surgeries becoming

This beauty standard has trickled off the elite models and landed on top of the ordinary woman. In order to keep up with the increasing demand for extreme thinness, clothing manufacturers have been practicing vanity sizing, which involves “cutting clothing larger but labeling it smaller. Some in the fashion world claim a size 8 in the 1950s became a size 4 in the 1970s and is a size 0 today” (Borgman 78). However, some women don’t buy into this unnatural beauty standard.“Although there is ample evidence that many women are striving to meet a beauty ideal presented in the media, there is also evidence that women often recognize this ideal for what it is—unrealistic and largely unattainable for most women” (Engeln-Maddox 64). Ultimately, women have the choice of whether or not to accept the unrealistic thinness as beautiful or embrace their natural body

We live in a technological world and a society that is ruled by social media because anywhere and anytime that we are, we have our laptops, iphones, or ipads. We are constanly chasing and running from all different directions in order to catch up on what’s going on in social media such to find out how many “likes” and how many “followers does Kim Kardashian has?.” With that being said, our society have redefined beauty based on how much “likes” a person received on their Instagram pictures, a number on a scale, a premanufactured clothing size, an hourglass shape, slender thighs, or victoria’s secrect models. The society’s standards of beauty are unrealistic and impossible to achieve. As a result, unrealistic beauty standards affect girls

What is beautiful know was not always beautiful, there was a time in history when being thin “was considered ugly, a woman’s misfortune” (Seid 169). Because culture change, what is ask for women now is different, body ideals might be the same but the actual response of women is what is changing nowadays. In the article “Ideals of Beauty Need Not Hinder Women.” by Raina Kelley, the author reveals surprising statistics of women’s response of what society demands from them, “And believe it or not, trends in beauty-buying back that up. The market-research firm NPD released a study in April [2010] that revealed that teens and women are now using beauty products in significantly fewer quantities, down 6 percent from 2008 to 2009” (Kelley). In her article, Kelley talks about how women’s mentality is changing, and instead of obeying they are reveling from standards held against them. Women are gaining courage and self-confidence to do what they want to do with their lives and body, to please themselves and to look beautiful for themselves. “Despite the $20 billion U.S. beauty industry bearing down on us, and all that media implying that one must look like Gisele [Bündchen, a model] to succeed, girls and women are making extraordinary strides and have done so in a remarkably short period of time” (Kelley). Women in today’s society do not feel the need to follow stereotypes anymore, they are supporting each other and making sure that no one feels less than anybody because they do not have a slim waist, light skin and a thin body. Women are rebelling against the beauty standards that they always follow and made them insecure and

In today’s society, the idea of the perfect women becomes increasingly unattainable. Women and girls are being held to beauty standards that virtually no one has, leading to increasing body image issues and self-harm. Females are constantly judged on their appearances and not by what they bring to table in terms of intellect and physical ability. Under these conditions, African American women and other women of color suffer the most. Beauty standards not only tell women that you are only beautiful if you are skinny, it also tells them they are more beautiful the lighter they are and the straighter their hair is. Young girls of color are constantly ridiculed and even punished by school authorities for wearing their hair in its natural state and bleaching creams continue to fly off the shelves in African countries, as well as here in America. Societal expectations of beauty create unrealistic and dangerous situations for all women, but especially for those of color.

Step out into the everyday world as an average American and you will witness an entanglement of varied body size, and shape. Now, enter the world of the media, a world in which you are formally introduced to high fashion, where flashing lights, money, glamour and riches crash around you, satiating every crevice of your being. Here, you will find two unified body types, divided into two categories of shape in women; thin, and thick. Naturally, any woman who wishes to someday strut down the catwalk in Zac Posen, or pose in Marie Claire wearing Dolce and Cabana must have a body that fits one of these required molds, right? It is a well-known reality that many women who cannot reach by healthy means, or do not already have, the desired body

Also, beauty standards have dangerous effects for teens, such as physical and economical effects of the increased cost of beauty and cosmetic surgery. Beauty is not cheap, and the reflect is this high cost. Increased sales of beauty products are due to people trying to abide to the beauty standards. “Americans now spend more than $40 billion dollars a year on weight loss products and programs” (The Body Project, 2017, para. 3). Television commercial and magazine ads showcase trendy products that will guarantee to show weight loss or to change one’s appearance. The idea is that a beauty is just a credit card buy away, so buying the product will result in instant beauty (The Body Project, 2017, para. 2). Teenage boys are also in this economical effect. It persuades them to buy grooming products and fragrances to transform them into a man (The Body Project, 2017, para. 7). In addition to the forty million dollars spent on weight loss products and program, Americans spend fifteen billion on cosmetic surgery, with the numbers rising each year (The Body Project, 2017, para. 5). The cosmetic industry suggests with the use of their products will make skin look flawless. This industry is worth twenty million dollars of airbrush skin (The Body Project, 2017, para. 6). Teens buy into their industry while using their allowances to buy products to even pores and to cover flaws. Their ideas that buying these products will make them more

In today's society the picture of beauty is a rail thin super model with the body of a goddess posted on billboards all around the world. Children are brought up playing with Barbie dolls with the body measurements of would be 39, 18, 38. Because of these pictures and other figures of beauties projected all over, today teenagers are convinced to believe that to be beautiful and happy they must look like these images. According to a survey by Bliss Magazine, Four in ten teenage girls have considered plastic surgery and two thirds of the 2,000 girls quizzed, average age 14, said the pressure came from celebrities with perfect bodies and boys. (BBC news)

There are obvious unrealistic beauty standards in today’s delusional society, which are resulting in mental and physical health problems in young girls. The media is fixated on what the perfect girl should look like and girls are practically killing themselves to look that way. Between photo shop and filters, people are able to make anyone look “perfect”. Many people in our society do not realize that the pictures they see in magazines and online are fake and photo shopped to the point where it does not even look like the same person. Girls end up doing unnatural things to try to achieve this look because, they think that’s how a “healthy” girl is supposed