The Unattainable Nature of Beauty

The

Unattainable Nature of beauty

by Melissa Dash

The little girl in the adjoining dressing room could not have been older than eleven. Her features reminded me of my own when I was that age, wide-eyed with unbrushed hair and rosy cheeks. And she possessed the precious combination of short and stout, unique to prepubescent girls. She was shopping for her upcoming birthday party, and I watched her pupils expand as the sales associate placed a training bra and bedazzled purple dress into her palms. She ripped the items off the hanger, eager to embrace her princess fairy tale and threw the dressing room curtains together. Suddenly invested in her personal fashion show, I waited to see her smile widen as she stepped out from behind the drapes.

Yet the look of pure joy never came. Her wide eyes spilled silent tears that streamed down her face to her quivering upper lip. And as she threw herself into the comfort of her mother’s arms she explained how the mirror humiliated her, screaming how she looked fat in her party dress. Between gasps for air she asked, “Why don’t I look like the girls on TikTok?”

My heart broke at this moment. To witness the contrast between trying on a training bra and the pressures of imposed beauty standards felt immoral. Even at a young age, the impact of an ideal body image is not only present, but life-altering. While heightened by the emergence of social media, this pressure to conform to a particular beauty standard is not a novel concept.

Beginning our journey through history, ancient Greece (500300 B.C.E.) demonstrates an emphasis on imposed beauty ideals. Statue remnants depict full-bodied figures, with weight typically signifying wealth and a well-fed stomach—an unattainable look for the vast majority during this time period. Interestingly, ancient Grecians cared little for the female form, worshiping male bodies above all else. Female bodies were under pressure to appear increasingly masculine, an early example of how the male sex has historically played a role in shaping the ideal feminine form.

In addition to bodily proportions, facial symmetry was of the utmost importance in terms of beauty. The ancient Greeks emphasized the Golden Ratio, a specific geometric formula considered the most pleasing to the eye. While this formula was initially utilized in Greek architecture, the concept of perfection in balance and symmetry materialized in human faces. Due to this, unibrows were considered an image of lust, so much so that women who were unable to grow their brows would apply black powder to create the appearance of one. Ancient Greece marks a period on this historical timeline in which elements of female beauty, including body and face structure, are solely determined by external forces. Artifacts from ancient Greece also demonstrate the belief that fair-skinned women were considered more beautiful. This racist distinction, however, did not begin nor end in 500 B.C.E. Roughly at the turn of the 15th century, European colonizers began traveling around the world, introducing the notion of white supremacy in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Lighter skin was associated with high class distinctions, for only rich women could afford not to work outside in the sun. This led to the cosmetic procedure of skin lightening or skin bleaching, which reduces the concentration of melanin in the skin. Some women would even poison themselves in the name of beauty, using arsenic to lighten their complexion and mercury and lead for eye makeup.

Moving far ahead into the Victorian Era (1837-1901), the superiority of light skin and symmetry prevailed. This time period marked the height of female oppression. Manifesting in fashion, the corset became one of the most notable examples of how the female body has been tortured and contorted in the name of beauty. Corsets bruised the ribcage, squeezing internal organs in an attempt to achieve a slim silhouette beneath luxurious gowns. Skeletal remains indicate the deformity of ribs and misaligned spines. As the fascination with slim waists emerged, beauty industries profited immensely, advertising social status above comfort. While boned corsets were eventually abandoned due to ever-changing body ideals, the obsession with an hourglass figure migrated to the United States, and its influence has pervaded the present day.

At the turn of the 20th century, body image ideals began changing at a rapid pace. Each decade introduced something new in beauty and fashion trends, and so the ideal womanly shape changed from year to year. The roaring ‘20s

advertised a boyish figure and flat chest, and just as quickly as it began, the desire for slim silhouette was replaced by the full figures of the Golden Age of Hollywood. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the aspiration for an hourglass figure returned, which is most prevalently seen in 1950s and ‘60s America with sex symbol Marilyn Monroe. Momentarily, proportional and voluptuous bodies were plastered across movie screens, and women strived to replicate the look of their entertainment icons.

This time period also marked the height of American capitalism, and beauty industries made a killing off the changing economic system. Businesses modeled their frameworks off exclusionary colonialist ideals, profiting off female insecurities and discrimination. In the ‘90s, when the ideal body shifted toward women who looked extremely thin, starvation diets were glorified in mainstream media. Diet culture became responsible for an increase in eating disorders and body dysmorphia, and the fashion industry wasted no time capitalizing upon this new trend. The ‘90s marked the beginning of a deeply unhealthy and harmful beauty standard, valuing underweight models and extreme weight loss tactics. The ‘90s glamorized drugs, smoking, and starvation, with addiction becoming the poster of fashion. The “heroin chic” trend created a skeletal-thin ideal, and the media ran with these unrealistic standards. As a result, consumers replicated the behaviors of their favorite models, starving their bodies and pushing a healthy lifestyle to the backseat.

While it did not take long for the tides to swing again toward a new beauty ideal, the practice of beauty at the expense of bodily harm remained prevalent. Kim Kardashian, along with thousands of mainstream media influencers, has altered the face of beauty in 21st-century America. The prevailing Western image of beauty has been replaced by a new unattainable standard. Women are expected to be bronzed but not too dark, skinny but not too thin, and curvy, but only in the right places. This surgically crafted blend of physical attributes leaves most women feeling lackluster in comparison to the faces plastered on their television screens and magazine covers. This has led women to extreme—and sometimes life threatening—cosmetic and surgical procedures to keep up with dynamic standards. Driven by influencer culture and social media, thousands of women worldwide are undergoing a new popular cosmetic procedure. For $15,000, women can get a Brazilian Butt Lift, a surgery where fat is liposuctioned from various parts of the body and injected into the buttocks. Despite strong concerns over the procedure’s high mortality rate, women are still electing to undertake the risk, all to achieve a “Kardashian body.” However, since beauty ideals change so frequently, those who harm their bodies to look a certain way may regret this choice in as Modern culture has also led to deceptive editing on social media. Applications such as Photoshop and FaceTune allow individuals to digitally alter their appearance, allowing room for the dangerous beauty standards of the ‘90s to emerge again. Social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok have even incorporated unrealistic ‘beauty filters’ into their apps, giving users instant face lifts, nose jobs, and lip fillers. As a result, little girls as young as that elevenyear-old are left with a damaged selfesteem and questions of self-worth.

The irony rests in the constantly changing picture for what is considered beautiful. From 10,000 BCE to 2021, the ideal image of beauty has rapidly changed. Each decade has represented a new standard for women, one usually impossible to healthily achieve, and one carefully curated by external influences. In the present day, the fast fashion industry and prevalence of influencer culture has only sped up this process, resulting in high turnover rates of popular styles and trends. Just as one forces themselves to fit the narrow image of societal beauty, it seemingly disappears—transforming into an entirely new standard to achieve. The nature of this cycle leaves individuals, particularly vulnerable, young girls, with a negative view of themselves and residual feelings of marketable insecurities.

If I had been born in ancient Greece, I would have no desire to pluck the hairs between my brows. If instead I lived in The Old Stone Age, I would embrace my stomach rolls and thick thighs as beautiful rather than shameful. And if Kim Kardashian weren’t the image of my generation, perhaps I would feel comfortable in the skin I was born with. That being said, I remain hopeful. The emerging body positivity movement has challenged present-day beauty standards, advocating for the acceptance of all bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities. Whether performative or genuine, brands have taken a stand against the narrow confines of societal beauty. Inclusive clothing, makeup products, models, and advertisements have represented positive change in America.

I hope for a future where no child will ever allow the mirror to determine their selfworth, and will forever feel comfortable in a party dress, regardless of a culture that tells them otherwise.