The common perception of beauty is an artificially created impossible standard, driven by the so called "beauty industry," principally to sell products to women (and men) who feel insecure about their looks. This standard is extremely unhealthy and drives unhealthy behavior, such as anorexia, bulimia, and just plain unhappiness. Here are tips to recognize resist this war on self-esteem and understand how it operates.
Media and Body Image
The media is currently at war with women's body image. This war generally takes on two fronts. The first is the media's portrayal of only one type of woman in magazines, leading film roles, modeling circuits, and television. Often, these women are airbrushed, digitally altered, surgically altered, or suffering from eating disorders. Through this constant portrayal of only one kind of woman as the way women ought to look if they want to be beautiful, a powerful concept is burned into the minds of impressionable men and women. The second front is the constant encouragement for women to lose weight if they wish to be seen as beautiful, coupled with the media and society in general's general disdain for any women who is even a few pounds "overweight."
Body Image and Feminism
In her excellent book, The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf writes that "the beauty myth of the present is more insidious than any mystique of femininity yet." She calls on women to resist this programming and instead create their own definition of beauty that allows them to love their body. This feminist crusade against the very concept of an artificially created beauty standards itself has yet to meet with widespread acceptance among feminists in general, but is a position that is gaining popularity. Recently, Dove soap ran a series of commercials supporting this concept.
Body Image and Health
The most common defense of the current standard of beauty is that it promotes health by encouraging people not to be overweight. What most of the public is unaware of is the fact that most scientists today believe that being moderately overweight is not a health hazard, and may actually be healthy. At the same time, an estimated 1000 people in the United States die each year from anorexia.
The body image of beauty is constructed by the media, mainly to sell products related to the insecurity and unhappiness that it generates. Its restrictions on the thoughts and feelings of women are profoundly anti-women's freedom. In addition, the main defense, the supposed health benefits of the impossible beauty standard do not hold up to close scrutiny. Recognizing these problems are an important aspect to resisting their influence, but there are often other steps that individuals must take in order to promote their self-esteem.
Sources:
Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth, 2002
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