The Unrealistic Standard Of Beauty

Looks don’t matter, it’s personality that counts; we hear sayings like this one almost every day. Yet we live in a society which seems to contradict this very idea. People say that looks don’t matter, then why does the media use airbrushing to hide any flaws a person has? If this really is the case, why are there so many young women harming themselves because they feel unhappy with the way they look? It is because our media and society promotes a certain body image which is considered to be ‘perfect’. But who is to say what the perfect body is? And who is the judge of who has it or not? Every day we are shown pictures of these supposedly perfect bodies, however, the truth is that these pictures have been heavily edited and photo shopped to look the way they do.

This unrealistic standard of beauty is considered to be: thin but still curvy; slightly toned but not too muscular; and to have a large bust, a thigh gap, and prominent collar bones. However, the average clothing size for a women in the UK is a 16 , and 12-14 for a teenager, so you can understand why the fact that girls are bombarded with images of this standard every day, gives them a goal that is difficult to reach and has upsetting effects. Even
Back in the 1950’s, Marilyn Monroe was considered to have the perfect body at a size 14. However, the ideal body size for women keeps on decreasing, and with it, women’s self-esteem. Actresses and models are getting thinner and thinner; and as if these models and actresses aren’t thin enough already, the media continues to airbrush them. What was wrong with Marilyn Monroe’s size 14? Absolutely nothing. Since Monroe’s body image was the one promoted by the media, this look was accepted and even idealized. Why can’t we go back to promoting larger sizes instead of skin and bones? Better yet, why can’t we promote the idea that woman of all sizes are equally beautiful? We can, and we need to start with the