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In the world today, see different ad campaigns and TV personalities that show completely unrealistic beauty standards. These expectations are detrimental to a woman's self-esteem and can push them to make questionable decisions when it comes to their own unique selves. Society's beauty standards need to embrace all women.

An incredible advocate in body positivity is the artist Lizzo. She is a proud feminist and shares the message that big is beautiful. Lizzo is a strong personality that stands up for everyone, which makes her an inspiring role model to many kids. As an influential artist, she promotes loving oneself no matter what they look like. Young people now are growing up in a more inclusive and accepting environment. Because of this, there is a promising future of the media portraying all different types of people that represent our diversity for kids today.

These standards can cause people to go to lengths to achieve the face or body they want. Plastic surgery use has been rapidly increasing. People see stars like Angelina Jolie or Kylie Jenner setting trends for plump lips and decide they want to change themselves to fit that description. According to an article titled "How Plastic Surgery Is Changing What It Means to Be Beautiful" botox procedures alone have increased by 759% since 2000. The issue with plastic surgery is that there is the risk of the procedures being botched, which can be unhealthy for the person's body. The Mayo Clinic 's overview of cosmetic surgery states that with plastic surgery there is risk of complications from anesthesia, infection at the surgery site, fluid build up under the skin, bleeding, scarring and nerve damage. Women would not be in danger of these complications if it weren't for the beauty standards that push them to get these surgeries.

Procedures to use weight such as CoolSculpting, freezing fat, and Zerona, a fat-contouring laser treatment, have been becoming more popular to achieve a skinnier shape. It's upsetting that women are willing to go to lengths to change their own beauty to fit what society wants.

The only way this is going to change is if society begins to open their minds to different types of beauty besides the ones that are expected. All races, body shapes, hairstyles and stretch marks should be socially acceptable. Moving forward and away from the outdated beauty standards is essential. Doing this will give all women the confidence they need to be themselves without fear of judgement. The future is bright, but we need to branch out and be accepting of everyone in order to make the progress needed.

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In the world today, see different ad campaigns and TV personalities that show completely unrealistic beauty standards. These expectations are detrimental to a woman's self-esteem and can push them to make questionable decisions when it comes to their own unique selves. Society's beauty standards need to embrace all women.

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Beauty standards are a positive influence and motivation to become healthier. There are also benefits of being considered beautiful in life.

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Beauty standards are a positive influence and motivation to become healthier. There are also benefits of being considered beautiful in life.

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s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
Beauty is not subjective. Contrary to popular belief, men and women generally agree on who is and who is not physically attractive, even across different cultures.

What makes someone enjoyable to look at?

High cheekbones, fuller lips, big eyes, and a thin chin are associated with sexiness in women, whereas a big jaw and broad chin are preferred in men. Smooth skin, shiny hair, and facial symmetry are also key aspects of beauty.

According to various studies, these provide measures of health, good genes, intelligence, and success. More often than not, the world rewards beauty.

Here's why it's better to be hot:
#1 Beautiful people are viewed as healthier.
Facial symmetry, considered the beacon of beauty, can be perceived as a sign of health, even if it is not related to actual health. In an Australian study, researchers morphed photographs of young adults so that their faces were perfectly symmetrical. In general, the symmetric version of each face - both male and female - received higher health ratings than the normal image. Individuals with asymmetric faces were perceived as unhealthy.
#2 Beautiful people are actually healthier.
Although the link between facial symmetry and real health is weak, there is some evidence that individuals with more distinct facial features, considered less attractive, are more susceptible to disease, parasites, and other illnesses. Specifically, in a study of 17-year-olds, researchers found that facial distinctiveness was linked to poor health in both men and women, either during childhood or adolescence. Facial averageness, on the other hand, was linked to good health. One theory is that distinctive facial traits are tied to chromosomal disorders. The preference for average faces may have evolved as a way of identifying a mate with good genes.
#3 It's easier for beautiful people to find mates.
Men seek attractive women as mates because good looks signal youth, health, and reproductive fitness.
#4 Beautiful people are more intelligent.
University of New Mexico researchers found that general intelligence is positively linked to body symmetry, a characteristic that is indicative of attractive qualities like health, social dominance, and fitness-related biological traits.
#5 Beautiful people are more persuasive.
Good-looking people can use their sex appeal to command attention and to get ahead, say in a job interview or when asking for a promotion. Attractive people are more persuasive, in part, because they also possess or develop key personality traits - like intelligence and strong social skills - that make them more effective communicators. Researchers also found that compared to unattractive speakers, attractive speakers were much more fluent talkers.
#6 Companies with good-looking executives have higher sales.
In a study of nearly 300 Dutch advertising agencies, economists found that firms with better-looking executives had higher revenues. Overall productivity, and resulting sales, were greater in companies with more attractive managers, partly because firms with more attractive workers have the competitive advantage when client interactions are involved.
#7 Beautiful people have an advantage in politics.
Beautiful people have the upper-hand in politics, according to a study in Finland which found that both male and female political candidates who look better than their competitors are more successful. A better individual beauty score was associated with an increase of 20% in the number of votes for the average non-incumbent parliamentary candidate. Perceived competence and trustworthiness had less of an effect. The study authors suggests that voters favor good-looking candidates because they enjoy watching them and they fare better in social situations.
#8 Beautiful people are perceived as more likeable and trustworthy.
Beautiful people are typically treated better by others. In a study from Harvard University, researchers found that wearing makeup, shown to enhance a woman's attractiveness, boosted people's perceptions of that subject's competence, likability, attractiveness, and trustworthiness.

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8 Scientifically Proven Reasons Life Is Better If You're Beautiful

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Beauty is not subjective. Contrary to popular belief, men and women generally agree on who is and who is not physically attractive, even across different cultures. What makes someone enjoyable to look at? High cheekbones, fuller lips, big eyes, and a thin chin are associated with sexiness in women, whereas a big jaw and broad chin are preferred in men.

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With images of ideal beauty bombarding us daily, it is easy to forget that standards of beauty are arbitrary and they vary greatly both from one culture to another and over time.

Such variations in ideals of beauty often reflect the roles women and men are expected to fulfill in a given society. For instance, in contexts where women are valued mainly for their fertility-their ability to bear and nurture children-often full-bodied women with broad hips and ample breasts are considered the most beautiful. In societies such as Fiji, large bodies are a symbol of one's status and power. It is not surprising, therefore, that individuals who would be classified as obese in the US are considered the most attractive and desirable members of this culture.

But as social conditions and gender roles change, so do ideas about beauty. Consider some recent changes in the US. In the 1960s and 70s, beauty ideals for women shifted from the mature curvaceous body of stars such as Marilyn Monroe to the stick-thin, flat-chested figure epitomized by supermodels such as Twiggy or Kate Moss.The compelling fact here is that just as women started to make dramatic gains in the areas of education, employment and politics, the ideal female body began to look like a malnourished preadolescent girl, weak, emaciated and non-threatening. Women may have been gaining in freedom and power, but they were increasingly encouraged to discipline their bodies through diet and exercise to conform to ideals that were almost impossible to achieve.

Now, however, we see the beauty standard for women becoming curvier in some areas such as the bust and butt, and staying thin, toned, and tucked in other areas such as the waist and the thighs. According to Hoff (2019), in a recent survey of 1,000 Americans, the "perfect" woman was described as 5'5", 128 pounds, with a 26-inch waist. It would be almost impossible to achieve the proportions of this body ideal without using extremely unhealthy means.
Last update: 26 March 2021
Ask yourself...

Why is the American body ideal for women so unrealistic and unattainable?

I s the body ideal for men any more realistic or attainable than the ideal for women?

Does this tell us anything about the roles we expect men and women to fulfill

Can you think of any plus-size celebrities today? How are they portrayed and how has the movement changed within the last 5 years or so?
.

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With images of ideal beauty bombarding us daily, it is easy to forget that standards of beauty are arbitrary and they vary greatly both from one culture to another and over time. Such variations in ideals of beauty often reflect the roles women and men are expected to fulfill in a given society.

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On December 22, 2020, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell signed into law the CROWN Act ( Calendar No. 33,184). The new law prohibits employment discrimination in the City of New Orleans based on hairstyles. The law is modeled after federal legislation introduced in January 2020-the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act (CROWN Act)-designed to correct racial and cultural inequities by making hair discrimination illegal in the United States. In the meantime, cities have taken the lead passing similar legislation and protections. New Orleans joins Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, New York, New York, and Kansas City, Missouri, among other jurisdictions across the country that have also enacted legal protections to combat employment discrimination by addressing "deep inequities and barriers facing people of color and especially women of color in the workplace," as the order stated, based on hairstyles.

Chapter 86 of the New Orleans Code of Ordinances, the city's antidiscrimination ordinance, prohibits discrimination because of sex, disability, race, national origin, sexual orientation, age, and religion. The new hairstyle ordinance, an amendment to the antidiscrimination law, prohibits discrimination based on hairstyle as a subset of discrimination based on race or national origin.

The new law amends Chapter 86 by incorporating and defining the term "[p]rotected cultural hairstyle." The ordinance defines a "[p]rotected cultural hairstyle" as "any hairstyle or hair texture commonly associated with a particular race or national origin, including locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, Afros, and any hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled." Under the law, New Orleans employers are prohibited from making employment decisions based on protected cultural hairstyles. Employers that take any such acts will be presumed to have unlawfully discriminated against an employee based upon the individual's "race or national origin."

The ordinance explains that the new law and its protections are necessary to ensure that all residents of New Orleans are afforded "equal protection under the law." In so doing, the ordinance points to recent national studies and data suggesting that "in the workplace, Black women's hair is heavily policed through grooming policies." Relying on data from "The CROWN Research Study," the ordinance explains that a majority of the Black female study participants acknowledged that they either felt a need to change or did in fact change their hairstyles to "'fit in'" a workplace. It further notes that the study found that employers were over three times more likely to send Black females home because of their hairstyles, and that their hair was considered to be styled in an '"unprofessional'" manner. The city councilmember who introduced the ordinance indicated that Black women are 50 percent more likely to be subjected to discrimination in the workplace simply because of the style of their hair. The ordinance stated that such policies have long served as a means for "exclud[ing] Black individuals from both professional and social environments."

With the enactment of this new law, the City of New Orleans has made it clear to employers that acts in the workplace based on an individual's hairstyle constitutes employment discrimination and will no longer be tolerated. The ordinance became effective on December 22, 2020, with Mayor Cantrell's signature.
Key Takeaways
New Orleans employers may want to take proactive steps to manage the effects of this new law on their workplaces. Some of those steps might include:

amending policies and job descriptions to minimize potential claims of discrimination based on an individual's natural hair or hairstyle;

adding hairstyle awareness to antidiscrimination training;

training supervisors on how to address hairstyles in the workplace; and

reviewing interview and onboarding materials to comply with the new ordinance.

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CROWN Act Ordinance: New Orleans Enacts Law to Prohibit Hairstyle Discrimination | JD Supra

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On December 22, 2020, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell signed into law the CROWN Act ( Calendar No. 33,184). The new law prohibits employment discrimination in the City of New Orleans based on hairstyles.

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Beauty. It is something nearly everyone wants to achieve, however many of these standards find it to be detrimental to society. Although the beauty industry has helped to produce fashion icons like Grace Kelly and Angelina Jolie, it has overall done more harm than good.

In 2020, there are many outlets for beauty and fashion tips, yet these are not a guide to beauty. Instead, they are just another way to make many women and men feel as though they are worthless. A study from Brown University found that about 74.4% of females and 46% of men explained that they have thought about their weight and the way they look. This may be because of the standard set that people should be very fit, and in some cases, unhealthily skinny.

This beauty standard has one of the largest impacts on young adults in high school. Senior Tess Rempel of Spring Lake stated

"I think that beauty standards impact all people. It seems as though some submit to or ignore the toxic culture of beauty standards and social media simply to reap the benefits. It seems as though some accept that their bodies have become pawns in a never-ending competition of who looks best, as long as they receive the validation that follows, although the risk of developing mental health issues remains," Rempel said.

Media campaigns show women and men who are believed to be traditionally beautiful, and try to define it as someone who has a button nose, thin waist, and perfect muscles. Although, what is the true definition of beauty? Cambridge University defines beauty as "the quality of being pleasing , especially to look at, or someone or something that gives great pleasure , especially when you look at it." Each and every person has the right to define beauty in their own way.

People should be able to feel comfortable in their own skin, especially during high school, where self-esteem is extremely important. Companies such as Aerie, with the campaign Aerie REAL, use only untouched images to show what true beauty is, which is anyone. This can help teenagers love the body that they have instead of wanting the body that they do not. Everyone is beautiful, and society and the media need to start showing that. "Beautiful bodies" being shown as only skinny and muscular are unrealistic and must stop.

Beauty standards need to change. The "rules of how to be pretty" need to be adapted to be accepting of all bodies, genders, races, and sexual orientations. Beauty moving forward cannot be defined by one idea, but rather it needs to be as diverse as the people that see it. It needs to reflect how people really are.

Rempel continued, "In order to fight against such a culture, we need to recognize our part in creating it, and our inaction to strongly defy it."

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Modern beauty standards and their effects on society

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Beauty. It is something nearly everyone wants to achieve, however many of these standards find it to be detrimental to society. Although the beauty industry has helped to produce fashion icons like Grace Kelly and Angelina Jolie, it has overall done more harm than good. In 2020, there are many outlets for beauty and fashion...

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Beauty standards destroy individuality (The qualities that makes people unique)

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Beauty standards destroy individuality (The qualities that makes people unique)

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Affect on African Americans or people of color 

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Affect on African Americans or people of color 

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Open access peer-reviewed chapter

Written By

Mavis Henriques and Debasis Patnaik

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.93322

From the Edited Volume

Edited by Martha Peaslee Levine and Júlia Scherer Santos

Abstract

Beauty is concerned with physical and mental health as both are intimately related. Short-term decisions to alter one's body structure irrespective of genetic, environmental, occupational and nutritional needs can leave medium- and long-term effects. This chapter analyzes the role of social media and its effects on the standards of beauty. The researchers have summarized the literature on how social media plays a role in affecting beauty trends, body image and self-esteem concerns. There is support that social media affects individuals negatively, in pushing them to engage in life threatening beauty trends due to social compliance and acceptance in society. The aim was to review social networking sites' impact on perception of standards of beauty and newer unrealistic trends gaining popularity that could alter opinions and also cause harm to individuals in the long run. This is an emerging area of research that is of high importance to the physical and mental health in the beauty, health and hospitality industry with the latter being manifested in depression, anxiety and fear of non-acceptability and being seen as a social gauche.

Keywords

social media

self-esteem

body modification

body dissatisfaction

beauty

Mavis Henriques*

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Goa Campus, India

Debasis Patnaik

Department of Economics, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Goa Campus, India

*Address all correspondence to: mavis_henriques@hotmail.com

1. Introduction

Social media refers to the use of websites and applications to create and share content or to participate in social networking [ 1]. Technological developments have given rise to various gadgets including smart-phones, tablets, and laptops to robots too. Living in a digitized era, communication has now become easier and faster with the emergence of various social applications available at the click of a button. While many may agree that social media has connected individuals globally, it has also been used to set standards of beauty for males, females as well as the third gender. This in turn has been known to affect the self-esteem of individuals with regards to body image, body modification and how they view themselves in society. In order to be accepted in society females have to battle body image issues from a very young age, where thin is considered to be the ideal body type [ 2].

This chapter focuses on the effects of social media on standards of beauty. We review the literature on the role of social media and how they affect the physical and psychological beauty of individuals in society.

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2. Effects of social media on the aspects of body image

Today, Social Media is one of the most important factors contributing to the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health of an individual. With the media constantly portraying ideal beauty and body image comparisons, the decisions of men and women's beauty choices are globally affected.

"Body image refers to a person's perception of their physical self and the thoughts and feelings, positive, negative or both, which result from that perception" [ 3]. Social media has had a major impact on the perceptual, affective, cognitive and behavioral aspects of body image [ 3] by encouraging lean body patterns and delivering anti-obesity messages [ 4]. Eating disorders determine a distorted relationship between the individual, their eating behavior and body shape [ 5]. Adolescence being a crucial age for positive and negative development of body image, the self-esteem and body dissatisfaction adolescents feel are known predictors of eating disorders [ 6]. Continuous pursuit for the perfect slender lean body may generate negative feelings which can result in a change in eating behavior, thereby increasing the chances of weight issues and eating disorders [ 4, 7]. Social media portrays women who are slim as being more beautiful and successful compared to overweight women [ 8]. Body image misperception and dissatisfaction with body weight highlight an association between body dissatisfaction and psychological wellbeing [ 9].

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3. Self-esteem issues in response to social media effects

Body image concerns are common in women and men globally, but social media has now increased these concerns through advertising, videos and the use of social media. Milkie [ 10] conducted in-depth interviews on 60 white and minority girls to examine the effect of media on self-esteem. Results indicated that most girls felt that the images shown in media were unrealistic and not real. White girls felt that boys evaluated them on the basis of the images found on media platforms whereas the minority girls felt that the images portrayed on media did not meet the expectations of the reference group they oriented themselves with. The evolution from adolescence to adulthood has seen 12-16 teenage girls experience emotional changes in interpersonal and intrapersonal development as well as bodily changes such as sudden weight gain and transition from a young girl to a fully grown woman [ 11, 12]. In today's world, the self-presentation of beauty and perceptions of others plays an important role in developing identities in girls [ 13, 14]. New interactive platforms present in social media demonstrate how self-presentations and peer influences are interrelated with the standards of beauty [ 15]. Many women may imitate their ideal media personality due to the social, psychological and practical rewards associated with this ideal and the belief that their life would change for the better [ 16].

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4. Social media: trends in behavioral outcomes

Social media comprises of social networking sites, image sharing sites, video hosting sites, community blogs, bookmarking sites and gaming sites. Fellow comparisons about self-image and appearances in teenagers have resulted due to social networking sites (SNSs) such as Instagram and Facebook [ 17]. Teenage girls engage in online self-presentation of posting selfies and sharing the outfit of the day pictures to differentiate themselves with their peers [ 18]. Media images of ideal beauty standards influence the content and sharing of pictures teenage girls' post [ 19]. Individuals are constantly seeking feedback on SNSs through likes, followers and comments to uphold a perfect and stable image of themselves [ 20]. Teenage girls are vulnerable to the upward comparison as it means that they need to improve their beauty standards, thereby leaving them dissatisfied with their physical bodies, having doubts about their self-worth and also driving them to self-harm behavior [ 20, 21].

Taking selfies and sharing them on popular social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat has increased at an alarming rate during the recent years. A recent study compared selfie takers and non selfie takers and their perceptions of their selfies versus photographs clicked by others. Results indicated that selfie takers perceived themselves as more attractive and likable in their selfies as opposed to pictures taken by others leading to positive distortions of the self [ 22]. Biases in self-face recognition were seen in men and women in selecting the most attractive modified pictures of themselves [ 23]. Selfies are no harm per se. But obsession with physical features reveals a lack of holistic perception of self-generated sub-consciously, following an "outside" standard of beauty not defined by the "inner self" of the receiver.

Popular socialites Kim and Khloe Kardashian have been slammed with media reports of them using photoshop to edit Instagram selfies by making unrealistic alterations to look thinner and more toned. Emily Bryngelson, an associate designer struggling with an eating disorder, admitted to deleting pictures if they did not receive enough "likes." The time spent on Facebook photos was linked to self-objectification, weight dissatisfaction, thin idealization and pursuit of thinness [ 15].

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5. Social media and unrealistic beauty standards

There are multiple factors that affect the beauty standards in the world today, which involve women and men and the third gender individuals trying new trends to be socially accepted. The purchasing decisions of millennials are influenced majorly by social media [ 24]. 72% of millennials procure beauty products based on Instagram posts and other social networks [ 25]. Makeup consists of the application of cosmetic products to beautify or change the way one looks either artistically or to conceal flaws. Jang-Soon and Hye-Jin [ 26] investigated 240 teenage males' preferences for makeup use. Results indicated that their appearance was one of the major reasons for their social success. The male respondents who were young, unmarried and city residents had an overall positive perception about cosmetics [ 26]. With bloggers constantly advertising on social media, cosmetic products, have gained popularity.

The images on social media sites are idealized and unreal, due to digital alteration thereby setting high expectations from individuals in society. Imperfections are removed by airbrushing and using other digitized apps to whiten teeth, slim waists and reduce sizes in order to be accepted as beauty ideals [ 27]. These techniques may further lead to negative consequences of increased body dissatisfaction, body modification and low self-esteem issues. Unrealistic images of feminity, beauty, success and body shape promoted through social media images are associated with development of eating disorders and body dissatisfaction disorders [ 28, 29].

Filters and beauty apps represent another area in which social media has a major influence. Beauty apps encourage women to see and surveil themselves within a "pedagogy of defect" [ 30]. They include filters and modification apps, surgery try out apps, and esthetic benchmarking apps which help individuals visualize how they will look after certain changes such as teeth whitening, eye bag removal and also whether the individual looks old or young [ 31].

"Body modification refers to the deliberate or permanent altering of an individual's human anatomy or appearance" [ 32]. They involve two aspects: the processes that modify form or contours of the body such as metabolic manipulation (weight lifting, extreme dieting, use of drugs/steroids, hormones), cosmetic surgeries and procedures (liposuction, face-lifts, rhinoplasty, botox, eye lash extensions), genital surgery and sex reassignment surgery, restriction or compression (waist training, foot binding), abrasion (teeth filing, scourging, flagellation), elongation (neck, lips, earlobes), partial or full removal of body parts (breasts, penis, ribs, nose etc.), implantation of foreign objects (silicone implants, decorative items under the skin), and prosthetics (false limbs, finger nails, lenses) and processes that mark the surface of the body such as tattooing, piercing, tanning/bleaching, scarification, branding and hair removal [ 32].

Young women and teenage girls following fitness boards on Pinterest were likely to have intensions to engage in extreme crash dieting or extreme exercising as a result of social comparison leading them to feelings of inadequacy and body dissatisfaction [ 33, 34].

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6. Body modification trends in society

From professional athletes to celebrities, contouring, tattooing and body piercings has gained popularity in today's society [ 35]. Individuals who get tattooed refer to it as a piece of art and piercing as fashion accessories, for the purpose of embellishment or as a self-healing effect after having being abused [ 36, 37, 38, 39]. A survey conducted at an American University found body piercings in 42% of men and 60% of women with piercings involving tongue, lips, nose, navel, genitals, nipple and eyebrow besides the earlobe piercing. Bacterial infections, bleeding and local trauma were common complications faced. "Tattoos were present in 22% of male students and 26% of female students" [ 40].

Another reason why individuals engage in body modifications is to maintain self-identities and be distinctive from others [ 41, 42]. Physical endurance, lust for pain, spirituality and cultural traditions, addictions, resistance, sexual motives, group commitments are reasons why individuals adopt modification procedures [ 43]. Social Media has had a tremendous effect on how individuals perceive and endure painful tattooing and body modifications after viewing popular Instagram and Pinterest handles. Brief exposure to body modifications on popular social networking sites has seen an increase in tattoo searches and body modification procedures in young as well as older individuals, proving the impact of Social Media on Beauty trends in society.

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7. Adopting to ever changing social media trends: Is it right?

Social media has a robust influence on the beauty, health and hospitality industry with women and men engaging in weight loss and diets to avoid gaining fat identities that impacted their wellbeing in the long run [ 44, 45, 46]. Women and men have turned to waxing, shaving and removal of unwanted facial and body hair in order to meet the beauty standards of societal acceptance [ 47, 48]. Women who did not engage in hair removal were negatively evaluated as being dirty or gross [ 49, 50]. In 2010, a concept of living dolls emerged online with women practicing the art of appearing "doll like." These women would engage in usage of wide rimmed contact lenses, hair extensions, corsets, photo editing and surgery including, eye widening, breast implants, liposuction and rib removal to enhance their beauty [ 31]. Even though women knew the risks in false eyelashes and acrylic nails, they still reported to be continuing to engage in it to feel socially accepted [ 31].

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8. Using social media for body positivity

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other networking sites have the potential to influence positive beliefs and attitudes in individuals [ 51]. The online platform has given many individuals a feeling of a "sense of belonging." Men and women are obsessed with images on social media portals and often search for esthetic body types which are not similar to their own body. Instagram and Facebook often have stories of individuals who have fought hard to change beauty standards through sheer dedication and hard work, be it exercising, eating healthy or building self-esteem and body acceptance through support groups and communities found online. Blocking body shamers can help reinforce confidence in men and women globally. Promoting videos on life struggles with weight motivate others to believe in never giving up and taking charge of their lives. Today social media includes individuals of different race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation, thereby focusing more on breaking stereotypes and building communities to support each other.

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9. Conclusion

With technology advancing by the minute and newer apps surfacing online, social media has an immediate effect on beauty. Due to the ever changing body images depicted online, individuals are turning to social media handles for acceptance and support. The selfie culture has brought about a positive and negative change in how individuals perceive themselves. While most research today focuses on the negative impacts of social media on beauty, more interest should be laid on body positivity and using social media as a medium for self-acceptance whether beautified or not.

References

1. 1. Social Media [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.lexico.com/definition/social_media

2. 19. Boyd D. It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; 2014

3. 20. Corcoran K, Crusius J, Mussweiler T. Social comparison: Motives, standards, and mechanisms. In: Chadee D, editor. Theories in Social Psychology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 2011. pp. 119-139. DOI: 10.1037/a0023922

4. 25. Social media influence on sales [Internet]. 2017. Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2017/12/22/4-ways-social-media-influencesmillennials-purchasing-decisions/#3cdd48ea539f

5. 29. Grogan S. Body Image: Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men, Women and Children. 2nd ed. East Sussex: Routledge; 2008

6. 30. Bordo S. Twilight Zones: The Hidden Life of Cultural Images from Plato to O.J. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1997

7. 31. Elias AS, Gill R, Scharff C. Aesthetic Labour: Rethinking Beauty Politics in Neoliberalism. London: MacMillan Publishers; 2017

8. 34. Alperstein N. Social comparison of idealized female images and the curation of self on Pinterest. The Journal of Social Media in Society. 2015;4:5-27. Available from: https://www.thejsms.org/index.php/TSMRI/article/view/82

9. 48. Toerien M, Wilkinson S, Choi PYL. Body hair removal: The 'mundane' production of normative femininity. Sex Roles. 2005;52(5-6):399-406

Written By

Mavis Henriques and Debasis Patnaik

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Beauty is concerned with physical and mental health as both are intimately related. Short-term decisions to alter one's body structure irrespective of genetic, environmental, occupational and nutritional needs can leave medium- and long-term effects. This chapter analyzes the role of social media and its effects on the standards of beauty.

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This story is the first installment of a three-part Exploring Your Health episode delving into the potentially harmful chemicals found in many popular beauty products, and the health risks associated with them. All three parts are available now:
If you check out earlier episodes of Exploring Your Health, you'll notice my hair style has changed a bit. It was actually a big decision to transition from straight hair to a curly afro. This first installment of three, on Harmful Beauty, dives into the pressures women face, particularly women of color, to conform to unrealistic beauty standards, and how that struggle to fit in may be impacting our health.

Five years ago, Shawné Reddic, a hair stylist and owner of SBS Hair Studio in Los Angeles' Leimert Park neighborhood, stopped using chemical hair straighteners on long hair. It was an effort to reduce her and her clients' exposure to harmful chemicals.

From coast to coast, there's a shift happening among women of color, an acknowledgement that the cost of beauty is just too high.

When asked why she believes so many women have risked exposures or burns from heated tools to straighten their hair, Reddic said, "because we weren't valued and looked at, [sic] our own curl pattern or our ethnicity, as being beautiful."

It's something that hit close to home for Environmental Reproductive Epidemiologist Tamarra James-Todd.

"So my daughter, when she was about three, just would not leave the house. She has a big, beautiful, natural, you know, fro, that, you know, I love and want her to embrace. She called her hair 'out hair,' 'I don't want out hair anymore, I want my hair to be down like the rest of my classmates,' and trying to convince her wasn't going to work. So I had to finally stop wearing my hair, for a bit, like this," said James-Todd, pointing to her neat, pulled-back hair, "And wear it out. But even then, it requires so much maintenance, so many, so many products and so on. But for me, it definitely gives my work more weight."

James-Todd is now a researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She began studying the products Black women use in their hair nearly a decade ago. It was part of her doctoral thesis at Columbia University.

"One of the things when I first started doing this work was focus on hair perms. But it's beyond perms. Right?" said James-Todd, "We use all sorts of other products to make our hair lay or appear a certain way to be able to get that job. Be accepted within our professional communities or just society as a whole."

It is a struggle most people can identify with in some way, no matter your background. Bhavna Shamasunder is a community researcher and associate professor in the department of Urban Environmental Policy at Occidental College.

"I think these pressures are so intense that they're part of family life. Right? So if a baby is born in a family and they tend to be fair or less fair, you see grandmothers comment, 'oh, your baby is so fair or oh, your baby is very dark,'" said Shamasunder. "I've heard this in my own life for my children. And I think that just those messages, inside families, have to change. But I think they exist because there is a feedback to the benefits that accrue to those who possess straighter hair or lighter skin. Right? So in the Indian community, it is light skin. Sixty percent of all [beauty] products in India that are sold are some sort of skin lightening."

Shamasunder's work centers around how the environment impacts racial disparities in health.

"There's environmental justice, and this includes things like racism, poverty, the social stress of dealing with racism and poverty. And this, combined with environmental hazards, can lead to worsened health. And this is everything from asthma, heart, respiratory illness, heart disease."

From opposite coasts, the work of these two researchers is intersecting, connecting the dots, between the pressures to live up to an unrealistic, outdated standard of beauty and poor health outcomes.

The statistics are well documented; Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause and black babies are twice as likely to be born with low birth weights. Among the general population, 20 percent of women experience fibroids, but it's a condition up to 80 percent of Black women are diagnosed with. In Florida, the breast cancer death rate was 31 percent higher in black women than in white women between 2013 and 2017.

James-Todd says persistent health disparities experienced by women of color are likely connected to the products we use. "I think it's been an underexplored piece of the puzzle. Oftentimes when we think about disparities, we focus on health services. So we think about discrimination from the perspective of what's happening between the physician and the patient. And we don't give much thought about what are the exposures that may be culturally driven."

James-Todd collected and catalogued the listed chemicals in popular beauty products used by Black women.

"In a lot of people you're using these [products] over the course of many years and you use them, you know, if not every day, two, three, four times a week."

Some of her work has found links between exposures to chemicals in beauty products and pregnancy complications and infertility.

Researchers at Silent Spring Institute, also in Boston, are exploring the link as well.

"They were able to about a year or so ago, test the ingredients of those of those commonly used products. And in that study, it came out that there were many, many unfortunate endocrine disruptors and other chemicals that were in these products," said James-Todd.

More about the misleading labels on those products and what endocrine disrupting chemicals can do to the body in part two.

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Are Cultural Beauty Standards Contributing to Health Disparities?

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This story is the first installment of a three-part Exploring Your Health episode delving into the potentially harmful chemicals found in many popular beauty products, and the health risks associated with them. All three parts are available now: If you check out earlier episodes of Exploring Your Health, you'll notice my hair style has changed a bit.

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The Dark Reality Behind Male Beauty Standards

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It causes eating disorders, and can in may of the products contain harmful chemicals

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It causes low self esteem because of what is a constant promotion on the internet.
It models unrealistic figures and trends that could harm someone in the long run