In the first half of this candid essay, I discuss the amount of scrutiny the media places on women’s bodies in a call to normalize real bodies, as well as reclaim ownership of one’s body.
When it comes to modern celebrities, the idea of privacy is obsolete. Social media and intense media scrutiny have evaded people’s lives, stripped them of privacy, and created an environment where the standard of beauty has evolved to become unattainable because in many cases it does not even exist. And this toxic terrain has led to a time in which existing in a normal body becomes brave and women have to fight for ownership of their skin and images.
Chasing False Standards
Photo editing has bombarded social media and drastically influenced the current standard of beauty. There is nothing wrong with posing at a flattering angle or filtering a photo to achieve a more desirable effect. But what becomes damaging and troubling is when people Photoshop, Facetune, and alter their photos to such a degree that you wouldn’t recognize the person in real life. Impressionable individuals comment endless strings of I wish I looked like her on pictures of people who also wish they looked like the person in the images.
The reality is that many influencers heavily edit the images they share online. You can check out the Instagram vs Reality Subreddit to see the extent that Facetune has invaded social media. In many cases, the photos people see are not accurate representations of how the person in them appears in real life. Not even Livestreams and videos can be trusted to depict reality, as they too can easily be warped with eerily realistic filters.
People should be able to do whatever they want to their bodies. If someone wants to get a nose job or implants or lip injections, that is their choice and right. But people who put themselves in the spotlight have a responsibility to their audiences to be honest with how they achieved their look. There is nothing wrong with someone admitting that they had a little help achieving their look. This way, people can stop believing that a certain look is naturally attainable. Honesty would go a long way toward creating realistic beauty standards.
Damaging Effects
The constant exposure to edited beauty can severely damage one’s self-image and mental health. Influencers who are candid about surgeries, changes, Photoshop, and angles are a breath of fresh air, but sadly they are not the standard social media celebrity. A call for disclosure might seem like a violation of someone’s privacy, but if someone builds a following based on their physical features and puts out edited and altered photos, they have an obligation to impressionable audiences to let them know how the photos were achieved.
People go so far as to post photos that are anatomically impossible to obtain, which sends a disturbing message to audiences. And then people wonder why eating disorders continue to rise. Young girls comment things such as that’s it, I’m not eating tonight and model their bodies after pictures that would only be possible if internal organs were removed. The continual exposure to flawless images can damage the mind and worsen conditions such as Body Dysmorphia Disorder (BDD) as people hold themselves up to impossible standards. Little do they know that they are merely viewing images that have been filtered to be flaw-free.
The damage of false beauty standards affects far more than youth, though they are most vulnerable to internalizing the manufactured beauty standards and subsequently being insecure with themselves. Unfortunately, many adults are unaware of the amount of manipulation that goes into achieving many photos. And the saddest part is that the manufactured photos become the standard of beauty, when in fact, the unedited photos are naturally beautiful to begin with. It’s almost as though people have become unable to recognize real bodies and beauty.
Normalizing Real Bodies
Everyone is entitled to doing what makes them happy. People should be allowed to have surgeries or get injections judgment-free. If altering one’s physical appearance makes the person happier, then that is a positive thing. Real bodies are also bodies that have plastic surgery. But whether or not plastic surgery contributes to the image people see should be disclosed. It should also be understood that surgery is not a healthy solution for people with BDD, as the root of their insecurities is mental and their problems won’t be fixed by altering their appearance.
Being honest does not mean stopping surgeries, but it does include showing “flaws.” People can stop editing out their acne or smoothing out their cellulite. They can exist with these so-called imperfections and still embrace the way they look. Influencers can admit when they got lip injections and not claim they are just doing their makeup differently. It can be disclosed when editing is responsible for giving someone a flawless effect. And audiences can do their part to bring change by praising more than just a very narrow view of physical beauty.
By normalizing accurate depictions of beauty, hopefully the standard of beauty will expand. If people stopped trying to imitate or mirror the same beauty standard, then mainstream beauty standards could broaden to be more representative of the diversity in the world. However, it should also be understood that a person’s worth does not depend on their looks, someone else’s beauty does not diminish one’s own, and being beautiful should not be the end all be all goal.
Overall, we need to allow people to exist in their skin without the invasion of opinions or judgments. Part 2 of this essay will focus on the battle to reclaim one’s image.