We live in a day and age where, unfortunately, many young teenagers and young adults of all genders are unhappy with the way they look. The Western media introduced certain beauty standards that are very biased, unrealistic, and even detrimental for the youth’s physical and emotional well-being. The most common beauty standards which young females, in particular, feel pressurized to adopt in modern times are Kylie Jenner’s surgically-enhanced lips, Kim Kardashian’s voluptuous physique, and the trend of contouring.
Some women are blessed with thinner physiques, whereas other women are blessed with thicker physiques. We cannot control our genetics, so it would be unfair to limit beauty to a certain physique which may not be possessed by every woman in this planet. The same goes for facial features. Some women are born with smaller eye shapes whereas others are born with larger eyes. Some women are born with curly hair, whereas others are born with straighter hair. Some women are petite, whereas other women are tall. Some have lighter skin complexion, whereas others have darker skin tones. Since there is so much variation amongst women in this day and age, from skin colour to their facial features, shouldn’t that make us appreciate the different ways in which beauty is defined? If every woman was to share the same height, hair colour/texture, facial features and skin colour, wouldn’t that give us a rather distorted perception of what beauty is? This just makes all of us lose our originality, and that’s never a good thing. Additionally, we all have different preferences when it comes to beauty. For example, some of us may think blond hair is more attractive than darker hair, or vice versa. Some may find dimples attractive whereas others may not. This is just something very natural amongst us, and it should not be something which is considered to be bad.
Just because we have certain features which the media does not advocate for as much, this does not mean that there is something wrong with us or we’re ugly. We can’t control the way we look, nor did we choose our height, facial features, hair colour and type, and etc. If we keep striving to achieve “goals” which are actually very unrealistic, we’re just going to become more unhappy with ourselves. Our insecurities will grow, our self-esteem will decrease, and some of us may even go to extremes where we pay large amounts of money to surgically “enhance” our looks and bodies. Yes, we should always make sure that we take care of ourselves by eating healthy, exercising, and maintaining good hygiene habits. But if we don’t look like the type of person which the media portrays as beautiful, that’s completely okay. Beauty is not limited to a certain look or body type. Don’t get upset if you find that you don’t look like the models which the media shows. They don’t even look like themselves with all the make-up and Photoshopping. I know that most of us were told that we should happy with the way we are, and we’ve heard it so much that we start giving it very little importance or we become dismissive over this fact. It’s true, though. We should always remember this saying, because we all deserve to live a happy life. We all deserve to be confident about the way we look. You don’t need to spend tons of money to look good.