Opinion

Opinion: Beauty Standards For Women Are Constantly Changing


In the early 2000’s it was an insult to tell a woman she had a big butt, now to tell a woman she has a small one is insulting. The fact that a woman’s body can be the most attractive thing one year and ten years later the same woman’s body is unattractive is ridiculous. For basically all of eternity women have been expected to have the perfect body, and now with social media that expectation has only doubled.


One of the most ridiculous things about the ever changing beauty standards is when women use resources to try to conform to them such as makeup, waist trainers, or plastic surgery they’re ridiculed for that. And on top of that if a woman has large hips and a large butt naturally, she’s most likely going to have stretch marks and cellulite which is also considered unattractive. If a woman doesn’t somehow have long lashes, unblemished skin, full lips, and high cheekbones without makeup she’s a catfish. If a woman wears no makeup or very little makeup, she’s ugly and not trying. I don’t know how else women could keep up with beauty standards without plastic surgery, but the point is that beauty standards themselves are horrible for women.


Now, there are strides being made towards a more positive world for women to grow up in. Although social media can be harmful it is also being used by some content creators to make posts about accepting your body and it’s flaws. The body positivity movement is vital for creating confident, strong young women. With a movement dedicated to making people feel good about themselves the importance of beauty standards is minimized or obsolete. Social media and just people in general being a more accepting place can help bring the rate of eating disorders and depression in young girls down. Obviously learning to love yourself even for your flaws is a very hard thing and even people who make content in the name of body positivity still struggle with self image, just know you’re more than what you look like.


Tips For Struggling With Self Image:

  • Follow body positive creators on social media - Some examples include Brittani Lancaster, Clara or claraandherself, and also Denise Mercedes. These three are all on TikTok but also have Instagram pages. It might be best to even take a break from social media if it is or starts to affect your confidence.

  • Practice positive affirmations - Look in your mirror maybe once per day and simply say ‘I am beautiful.’ It’s simple but it helps.

  • Wear what you want - For the longest time I told myself I couldn’t wear something because of the way my body looks, but now I wear what I want and it’s increased my confidence by a lot.

  • Fake it - This ties in to wearing what you want, but if you pretend to be confident eventually you will be.