Anindita Bose
The idealistic standard of beauty, which is generated by our society, creates unreasonable peer pressure and lowers our self-esteem; it is completely unethical.
Firstly, peer pressure is to be blamed. It is also to be noted that high verbal or behavioural pressure from peers urges teenagers to compare themselves to the models in fashion magazines and on TV. When a person receives negative comments about their appearance from friends, they might build a negative self-image. Therefore, it can be said that the higher the peer pressure, including verbal and behavioural pressure that an individual receives, the more negative the perception of their own body might become.
The beauty standard of Chinese society can be brought to light. In China, there are certain physical features (such as height or weight) required to be eligible for a job, and it is shockingly only applicable for women. Chinese culture deeply believes that a woman’s talent is being beautiful. Although a lot has changed over the years, even today women with “prettier” and “more feminine” features are prioritised. Due to this unreachable beauty standard of their society, which contradicts the general features of their race (small, mono-lidded eyes), they often take extreme measures such as plastic surgery to fit into the society.
In addition, it is quite evident that the ideal beauty standard lowers people’s self esteem, as the level of one’s self esteem is generated from the whole body shape and image, be it being feminine or masculine for both women and men respectively. Consequently, according to research, seven in ten women suffer from self esteem issues, a thinking disorder in which individuals think they are not good enough. They can be affected by depression, bulimia, anorexia, or self-harm.
Ironically, these self-esteem issues take root at home, where mothers not only pass on their own insecurities but also take out their self-loathing on their daughters. Likewise, in India and Bangladesh, we see another form of beauty standard created by society. For instance, in one very famous “Fair n Lovely” advertisement, a woman at the starting of the ad was tanned so her marriage gets called off, but soon after her friend recommends that she use “Fair n Lovely”, she gets pearl white skin within a few weeks and finally gets married. These commercials blatantly promote extreme heights of discrimination for which men, as instructed by their families, prefer fairer women; the women’s other features and characteristics are not judged or taken into consideration if she is fair enough. Due to this, the self-esteem of women in our society has deteriorated to such an extent that they are obsessed with brightening creams, facials, and whatnot.
Both consciously and subconsciously, everyone is constantly trying to be perfectly flawless, often not realising what impact that this has as a result of this. Thus, external beauty prevails over all.