Beauty Standards and Its Effects on Women Free Essay Sample

Approximately $8.7 billion will be spent on plastic surgery in 2021 in the United States. Society's images of beauty have an effect on mental health of women due to stereotypical views of women, their desire for plastic surgery, and the views of society.

Why are we dissatisfied with their bodies in the last 20 years? “According to at least one study, the number of women who view their bodies in a less than loving way has more than doubled in the past twenty years—nearly half of all women (compared with a third of men) say they are dissatisfied with their bodies.” “According to the standard of beauty currently in place in our culture—namely white, young, thin with long, straight hair” This can put a lot of strain on women’s mental health, trying to change bodies to fit into the category that society puts upon them. Rania Kelly says,”as a rounded black woman with curly hair, the best I can hope for is moderately attractive”, with standards changing, women of color or a different body type (size 0-2) are not accepted. Which when they alter their bodies trying to fit into society’s image they are frowned upon. In spite of the fact that in recent years being "natural" has become "in" (or so the media has claimed), we can't change our mindset by just clicking a button. The "Barbie" image has been ingrained into our heads since childhood, and we still destroy our bodies trying to achieve this "beautiful image".After getting plastic surgery, they are criticized by society for looking "plastic" or "fake." This judgment can be strenuous enough to drive someone to suicide. How did something invented to help people start degrading people? The invention of plastic surgery was created to help soldiers with disfigured faces after World War I as doctors realized what they could do with it, they turned it into an industry. In the early 1960s, plastic surgery flourished and women could now look like the Barbie they admired,getting breast augmentation, rhinoplasty and reshaping their faces. Society had once again stepped in and changed the standard, now if women didn’t change themselves they were frowned upon. This is now the standard so why are we changing it? 

Thirteen men committed suicide due to the rejection of Anis l-Doleh in the 1800's in Persia. Now that people are doing research on her, they claim she was ugly and not very pretty. Why does society get to decide the worth of women based on their looks?