Unrealistic Beauty Standards on Social Media and Their Impact

Introduction

Every single one of us has been scrolling through some type of social media and come across the girl with the shiniest hair, whitest teeth, smallest waist, cutest clothes, and perfect complexion. Thoughts immediately run through our heads such as, “why isn’t my hair as shiny as hers?” or “why can’t my waist be as small as hers is?” We immediately begin to feel worse about ourselves, even if we don’t know it. These types of thoughts can be damaging to our well-being, especially when we let them get in the way of our everyday tasks. Unrealistic beauty standards on social media add fuel to these negative thoughts, perpetuating unattainable ideals of beauty and further affecting our self-esteem. This essay will explore the harmful impact of social media on one's body image.

Unrealistic Beauty Standards on Social Media

According to a study from the April 2011 issue of The Journal of Consumer Research, “Just looking at an object intended to enhance beauty makes women feel worse about themselves.” A test was done to see if women were actually affected by the things they see in social media. For this test, a group of women were shown some type of beauty ad or a picture of a model. They were asked two questions before viewing the ad, “how attractive do you find yourself?” and “how satisfied are you with your body?” and asked the same two questions after viewing the ad. Almost every single female’s answer was much more hateful after viewing the ad.

“A systematic review of 20 papers published in 2016 found that photo-based activities, like scrolling through Instagram or posting pictures of yourself, were a particular problem when it came to negative thoughts about your body” (Oakes 5). An associate professor at the University of West England, Amy Slater, published a study in 2017. She had 160 females that were in college look at either a picture of a very fit woman or self-love quotes which all came from some source of social media. The women that viewed fitness pictures scored lower on self-love, but the ones that viewed self-love quotes were kinder to themselves and felt more confident about their bodies.

Harmful Impact of Beauty Standards on Mental Health

Viewing yourself and comparing yourself to others in these types of negative ways can have an extreme impact on your mental health. “One study out of the University of Pittsburgh found a correlation between time spent scrolling through social media apps and negative body image feedback. Those who had spent more time on social media had 2.2 times the risk of reported eating and body image concerns, compared to their peers who spent less time on social media. The participants who spent the most time on social media had 2.6 times the risk” (Hurley 1).

Comparing yourself to others becomes extremely harmful when it leads to feelings of being inferior or depressed. However, comparing yourself is something natural to humans, so it’s almost impossible to get away from. As Mitch Prinstein, a psychologist at the University at North Carolina, stated, “when we’re reliant on others for our sense of self, only feeling good if we get positive feedback or markers of status, we’re at risk for depression.”

When we give into these comparisons, this causes us to have self destructive, negative thoughts such as: “I don’t have good friends to experience amazing times with, I’m not rich, beautiful, talented, educated, thin enough to be loveable, I’m not as loved as so many out there, I haven’t achieved anything worthwhile, I’m so alone” (Caprino 7).

Unhealthy Body Image and Physical Health

Not only does social media and comparing yourself to others affect your mental health, but it also affects your physical health. One of the main negative physical results of poor body image is eating disorders. This includes anorexia- starving yourself and having an extreme fear of gaining weight despite the fact that you are losing weight at an alarming rate , and bulimia- eating a lot in one sitting and then making yourself throw up or excessively exercising. The consequences of these disorders are drastic, and some cases have even led to death. “While it is difficult to assess exactly how common eating disorders are (as many cases go undiagnosed), it is estimated that one in 100 adolescent girls develop anorexia, and it is the third most chronic illness in girls after obesity and asthma” (Australian Medical Association 7).

Another way that poor body image affects your physical health is by different surgeries that people have done to change the way they look. Today, plastic surgery is extremely common. There are tons of procedures that can change the way you look. People have plastic surgery done to reduce aging, make their stomachs smaller, change the shape of their nose, or even change the way their eyelids look. People change all of this about themselves because of the images they see online, in magazines, out in public, or even in their own home that project unrealistic expectations as to what we need to look like.

Challenging Unrealistic Beauty Standards

However, we have to remember that these expectations are impossible to reach. It’s important to remind ourselves of that. Before a professional photoshoot even begins, model’s bodies are changed. Hair extensions, makeup, push-up bras, and fake tans are added. After the shoot, the photoshopper erases acne, stretch marks, cellulite, whitens teeth, brightens eyes, and slims the waist. They ensure the model looks skinny in the right places yet curvy in the right places. Sometimes, the photoshopper will even give the model completely new arms and legs.

An anonymous photo editor who formerly worked for Victoria’s Secret stated, “the reason people retouch bodies is because they’re just trying to sell you something. One time, during a swim session, they had these two girls come in that had abs and thick thighs and busts. They were really toned and their skin was amazing. They were still obviously models, but they were a different look. However, they didn’t sell anything so they stopped using those girls.”

It is also important to remind ourselves that people are usually only going to post their best moments, since it’s human instinct to not post about our problems. Social media companies even make sure that the good, important things are what you see when you log onto the app. This type of reality is extremely fake, and it almost seems like the site has set it up for us to feel badly about ourselves.

“It’s critical to remember that social media platforms like Facebook encourage us to put out into the world only the most sanitized, flattering, and praise-worthy version of our lives, not the real, raw experiences we’re having” (Caprino 8). We have all taken a thousand pictures of ourselves and then deleted all but one of them. Only the most flattering pictures make it onto your social media page. Just as we do this, other people do it as well. It’s crucial to know that everyone has those rough- looking pictures in their recently deleted album.

The Scope of Beauty Standards on Social Media

A lot of Americans may believe that we are the only ones that have to face these types of standards. However, these standards are expected to be met all over the world. They may not all be through forms of social media, but almost everywhere you go, there are certain expectations that many feel they need to meet.

In western culture, the unrealistic view of a woman consists of a rather tall, skinny girl with curves in the right places. In France, many things that we try to hide from others are found beautiful. The French choose a more natural look. In Korea, women are told they have to maintain the perfect complexion to be found pretty. In New Zealand, nothing makes a woman more beautiful than a tattoo on her face.

Women will go to extremes to meet any type of standard that is placed in front of them, even if it puts them in danger. In Japan, women will pay a fortune on orthodontic work. However, it’s not to make their teeth straighter, it’s to make them more crooked. “Foot binding was an important part of Chinese culture for centuries. Although it was banned in the 1940s, its effects can still be seen on some older women, especially in rural areas of the country. This was a gruesome practice which involved breaking the women’s toes, before they were bent back against the sole of the foot to be bound in place by a tight fabric wrapping” (Achieng 7).

Ear stretching is extremely popular in Kenya, where they will use weights to stretch out their earlobes, some even getting as long as their shoulders. People in Thailand pierce their cheeks, while women in Indonesia chisel their teeth so they are small and pointed. Even though there are many different beauty standards around the world, the beauty standards we face in the United States do not only impact us.

“Skin whitening is another modern beauty trend, and one that often causes a lot more harm than good. Women in Africa, South America, and particularly Asia, are constantly bombarded by images of white western women as the beauty ideal. As a consequence, they often turn to unproven and sometimes dangerous skin whitening products in a bid to lighten their own natural skin color. Naturally, a lot of these products contain unpleasant chemicals, which if used incorrectly, or over a long period of time, can burn the skin, leaving it looking damaged and unhealthy” (Achieng 18).

Solutions to the Issue of Unrealistic Standards on Social Media

No matter where you turn, there seems to be some type of unrealistic standard that people feel the need to meet. While some standards are extremely different in different parts of the world, many remain the same. Women everywhere struggle with the same mental and physical health issues because of the impossible guidelines they feel they have to meet. However, something can be done to get rid of these issues women face all around the world.

First, we need to be careful with how much time we spend on social media. We need to make sure we are taking time away from social media so we are not constantly staring at images of others. Next, we need to make sure we are not comparing ourselves to others. We have to remember that what we see in the media is fake, and we can not waste our time comparing ourselves to something that is not real. Another thing we can do is make sure we are not letting to media hurt our self-esteem because of a mean comment someone made to us in the past. We need to let go of what they said, forgive them for it, and move on from it. People in the media can also take actions to protect us from feeling this pressure. Models in the media have every right to refuse getting their pictures photoshopped or touched up. Companies can also refuse to release these unrealistic images. Women of all different body types need to be added to the media, to show women it’s okay to not have that perfect, slender body.

Conclusion

Although we face these problems every day, all around the world, they may never go away. No matter how hard we try, this type of problem will be prevalent in our lives. However, there are certain steps we can take to reduce how much the media affects us, so it is important to make sure we are protecting our self esteem and self love from what is posted all over the internet.  

References

1. Achieng, Jackline. “Cultural Beauty Practices From Around The World That You’ve Probably Never Heard Of.” Culture Trip, 7 May 2018, www.culturetrip.com/africa/kenya/articles/cultural-beauty-practices-from-around-the-world/.
2. Australian Medical Association. “Body Image and Health.” Australian Medical Association, 2012.
3. Caprino, Kathy. “The Shocking Truth About The Effects Of Social Media On Women's Body Image.” Forbes, 26 Aug. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2017/08/26/the-shocking-truth-about-the-effects-of-social-media-on-womens-body-image/?sh=4dc1f9c9e72f.
4. Hurley, Kelsey. “Social Media's Impact on Body Image.” National Eating Disorders Association, 2019, www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/blog/social-medias-impact-body-image.
5. Oakes, Emily. “The Mental Health Impact of Instagram.” The Odyssey Online, 17 Nov. 2016, www.theodysseyonline.com/mental-health-impact-instagram.