Everyday people’s minds are poisoned by the image of what the 'perfect' person should resemble and what is expected of people to look like. So much that our own reflection does not please us
Both young girls and adult women have been taught from platforms such as social media and magazines that, in order to look beautiful and to be desirable, you must be tall and slim like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid or curvaceous like Kim Kardashian. It is engraved into their brains that they must have the ‘perfect’ distance between their straight nose and their full mouth. Their skin must be the ‘perfect’ sun-kissed colour and smooth with no signs of previous acne, even though it is a natural sign of maturing. Your hair should be naturally pin straight, and your eyes should be the colour of the ocean or the garden. If you do not follow these beauty standards you begin to feel insecure and small compared to others.
It is not only women with these ideals. Boys suffer through the same issues. They are expected to have chiselled abs and muscular arms with a height of over 6 ft. A strong jaw with ‘perfect’ symmetrical features is the modern portrayal of a man that covers magazine pages, television, and social media.
All these expectations and ideals are not true. Everyone is beautiful how they are, and I know that this phrase has been repeated so many times that it does not break through to people as it used to, but it still holds the same truth. These standards that have been built, lower self-esteem and that is it. Everywhere in the world has different beauty standards, your ‘dull’ and ‘boring’ brown eyes are thought to be ‘rich’ and ‘beautiful’ in other parts of the world. Your eyes, your hair, your skin colour etc… carry the stories and history of your family and past ancestors. Your scars from acne or surgery or even war hold the stages of development of yourself.
When you look at yourself you do nothing but criticise. When you look at your reflection you search for your faults and disregard your beauty. You look at others and only see their best features. You are surrounded by images that are not completely real. Images can be photoshopped and people can get surgery or apply make up to change how they are perceived. The truth is that everyone has insecurities, no matter how ‘perfect’ they may seem. Even movie stars and models wish they looked like someone else. Every person sees beauty as something different: no one sees the same thing.
I have repeated the word ‘perfect’ multiple times in this article, when describing what has been presented to us through media, but the idea of ‘perfection’ is not realistic. It has been manufactured by other people, so do not bring yourself down for something that is non-existent.
More and more people have begun to spread the idea that there is no one perfect person: every person has a unique and beautiful body and face. However, we, as a community, still have a long way to go. When you think of ‘body image’ or ‘body positivity’ a lot of people predominantly think of women and that is a massive problem. It is incredibly significant that everyone, whether male, female or any other gender, find comfort in their skin and feel proud to be who they are.
Spread the message and look at yourself differently.
