Negative Effects of Beauty Standards Essay Example

For as long as modern civilisations have been documented, society has enforced perceived ‘social norms’ and standards to keep order. One of these customs remains today, beauty standards. Beauty standards are shown to only bring harm to everyone of all age groups. These fictional guidelines affect people at all stages of their life, striving for perfection impossible to achieve. A 2015 study found that since 1997, cosmetic surgery increased by 538% for women and 325% for men, highlighting growing body image concerns internationally. Preschool-aged children are showing signs of negative body image, celebrities and influencers are using the insecurities of youth active on social media to sell products, and ageing persons are made to feel inferior and face health risks if their age is visible. 

Young children are thought to only face the decisions of whether to play with dolls or cars, however, studies have shown they are already dealing with the negative consequences of beauty standards. As they learn to navigate the world around them, they learn from everything they see and hear. This includes offhand comments about their mother’s desires to lose weight, or Barbie dolls all sharing a similar slim figure. These small occurrences build up, raising children to feel their self-worth depends on their appearance and setting them up to have a long-lasting difficult relationship with their self-confidence. As a result of these offhanded remarks, children are displaying early signs of dissatisfaction with their bodies and unhealthy eating habits. In the United Kingdom, toddlers and preschool-aged children have displayed alarming rates of body insecurity. Jacqueline Hardine, advisor to the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years in the UK, found that “by the age of 3 or 4 some children have already pretty much begun to make up their minds—and even hold strong views—about how bodies should look.” Additionally, observations conducted by daycare providers report that 37% of children aged 3-5 years old make negative comments about others’ weight, 31% state that they are fat, 10% believe they are ugly, and 19% engage in behaviours such as restricting food intake in fear of weight gain. Many children that compete in beauty pageants will additionally experience heightened pessimistic views of their body image. Participants have an increased risk of many lifelong psychological issues, such as low self-esteem, eating disorders, and social anxiety. They are raised believing their self-worth is based solely on others’ perceptions, and these negative views carry on into adulthood. Based on these statistics, the negative side effects of beauty standards in society are being demonstrated in children aged as young as 3 and are leaving them with lasting consequences that continue to deteriorate their mental health throughout their whole life. 

Once these children become young adults, they will find that social media is creating a corrupting environment, promoting these unobtainable beauty standards to youth for monetary purposes. It can be argued that beauty standards always have and always will exist. In the 1950s, models such as Marilyn Monroe promoted a near-impossible hourglass body. However, today’s unattainable desired looks are made dangerous by social media. These platforms are considered nearly essential to many teens and young adults, but much of the content consumed is destroying the way they view themselves. People’s social media pages provide only a snapshot of their best moments, retouched images and only their “good” angles, however many compare themselves to these unrealistically perfect influencers. A study conducted by the UK House of Commons revealed that for those aged under 18, social media took first place with celebrities following in third when they were asked what shaped the way they feel about their appearances. These insecurities pushed upon our youth have been turned into a goldmine for the retail and health sectors. According to Emma Lennon, the “unattainable physical ‘ideal’” has its roots in capitalistic culture with beauty, diet, and fitness companies benefitting from the illusion of imperfections and promising to “bridge the gap”. The participants of the earlier study reported that 76% of under 18’s saw advertising for weight loss organisations on their social media feeds, and 39% saw cosmetic surgery advertised. These social media platforms target advertisements to their users based on demographic and behavioural data, and this includes information on age and gender. This demonstrates that social media is intentionally targeting ads promoting the enforcement of beauty standards to today’s youth, aiming to sell products to get a commission, thereby using insecurities to their advantage. 

After a whole life subject to these invisible ideals, ageing persons are subject to beauty standards in a different form – ageism. Ageism is defined as stereotyping or discriminating against individuals on the basis of their age. The term was coined for and most commonly applies to the treatment of middle-aged and elderly populations. Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between genders and their experience with the prejudice against them. Older women are subject to age discrimination more than any other group, being “culturally devalued” and their physical appearance judged harshly for showing signs of ageing, according to researcher Natalie Sabik. This mistreatment causes older persons to internalise this view, directing the prejudice inwards. The impacts of their impaired self-confidence are not only mental, rather many are physical. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that a shortened life expectancy of 7.5 years, slower recovery from disability and increased engagement in dangerous activities such as excessive drinking and smoking are all linked to exposure to ageism. In attempts to hide signs of maturing, women are spending more and more on products and procedures to hide or reverse the effects of ageing. In the United States since 2000, there has been a 497% increase in women having Botox and similar procedures performed, with 57% of 2020’s total Botox procedures being women aged 40-54, and a further 23% for women aged 55-69. The global anti-ageing beauty products industry was valued at 40.49 billion USD that same year. Due to the standards of society, women are desperate to conceal their true age in pursuit of fair and just treatment. This highlights that beauty standards can adopt different forms for older populations, shaming and discriminating against those who show signs of age, especially women. 

It is clear that beauty standards have various harmful effects throughout all life stages, impacting children and raising them to have a difficult relationship with self-worth, using youth’s insecurities to sell products, and compromising the health of the older generation. It is imperative that together as a nation, we take a stand and work to break down these social expectations of others’ appearances. It is unacceptable to simply sit back and watch as the next generation faces the same lifelong struggles we have and will experience ourselves. If we come together, we can make these outdated, damaging beliefs a thing of the past.