The lasting effects of social media influence and influencers on young women’s self-esteem have been a longstanding question since social media's invention. Young women in particular, especially within the context of social media, face a unique pressure. According to “Western Beauty Pressures and Their Impact on Young University Women,” by Ashley Mckay, Shannon Moore and Wendee Kubik, western beauty ideals often pressure young women to conform to a “fair-skinned, youthful, thin, toned, able-bodied and physically ‘good looking’ woman.” Those beauty ideals are often the ones promoted, displayed and uplifted on social media and by social media influencers. In combination with those beauty ideals, social media is oversaturated with photoshopped or altered pictures, which continue to perpetuate a certain standard. 

That unique pressure to conform to idealized beauty standards often spawns an unrealistic body image that many try to attain. An unrealistic body image is directly tied to a negative body image, which is defined by the National Eating Disorders Association as a distorted perception of one’s shape and physical appearance. It involves feelings of anxiety, shame and self-consciousness. The ideals that are uplifted and normalized in social media do not show features that many women possess, like a fuller figure. Thus, women often believe that their image is flawed in comparison to the unrealistic body image on social media.

A realistic body image is characterized by body positivity or body neutrality that focuses on acceptance and self-love, which will be discussed in length later. 

In the pursuit of the unrealistic body image, many young women turn to products that are sold to them to be a “fix-all” solution to their insecurities. It is no secret that most of Western society is influenced by capitalism and overconsumption; thus, it is inevitable that capitalism influences social media. However, that influence often turns negative when the beauty industry directly targets young women whose self-esteem is already affected negatively by social media use. Social media influencers collaborate with beauty brands to sell a variety of different products, ranging from skincare to weight-loss treatments. 

In the analysis “Femininity, Hyper-Commodified: Consumerism, Social Media, and Beauty Standards” by Alexandra Ages, Ages explained how profit-driven social media enables the hyper-commodification of ideal beauty and feminine performance at an alarming rate. 

Femininity has different definitions to different people; however, many “feminine things” are directly tied to the products women buy, like makeup, razors for shaving, nail polish, etc. In combination with looking a certain “feminine” way, women are often expected to fit the commodified, unrealistic standard fed to them through social media algorithms and social media influencers. If a social media influencer promotes a product as a one-size-fits-all solution to a common insecurity like acne, women will be more inclined to buy it.

Gendered advertising has existed long before social media; however, with social media readily available in the pockets of millions of women, the pressure is unlike it was in the past. That pressure leads more women to contribute to an already bustling industry. In a 2025 report from McKinsey & Company, the global beauty industry is valued at $450 billion. Additionally, McKinsey & Company expects the global beauty market to grow five percent annually through 2030. The industry is directing benefitting off of women’s insecurities that are worsened through the unrealistic body ideal perpetuated by the influencers that peddle their products through brand deals. 

The global beauty industry is not slowing down, and neither is social media use for women. In fact, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, teen girls are more likely than teen boys to report using TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Those social media sites are epicenters of fast-paced and hyper-curated content that can feed into unrealistic body image. According to “The complicated ties between teenage girls and social media — and what parents should know” by Jennifer Gerson, video and pictures on image-based social media platforms may trigger intense episodes of self-comparison in teen and adolescent girls. Those comparisons contribute to the above-mentioned unrealistic body images that can increase mental health disorders. 

Social media has transformed over the decades and different trends come and go frequently. Those trends can contribute to new forms of self-comparison and self-esteem issues for young women who use social media often. While unrealistic body image and consumerism set the stage for those issues, the rise of micro-trends and diet culture pushes those pressures even further.