Plastic surgery, eating disorders, and Pillow Face; the effects of the extreme beauty standards in modern society are more obvious than ever. Throughout history, women have faced pressure to fit into a certain standard–a delicate, sickly look during the Victorian era, while in the 1950s it was the hourglass figure. However, nowadays the beauty standards women are expected to conform to are hardly achievable. Women are expected to have a thin waist, curvy hips, and flawless skin and facial features. These standards, deeply ingrained in society, harmfully impact young women worldwide.
A thin waist—the most harmful beauty standard—promotes eating disorders in young girls. Celebrities all over the world today have thin waists—most of them due to ozempic or plastic surgery. Many of these celebrities never admit to altering their body in any way, boosting the misconception that a thin waist is easily achievable without any kind of chemical or surgical help. Even worse, these standards run rampant all over social media. Multitudes of trends showing off thinness appear on TikTok, as well as channels promoting eating disorders directly, such as Liv Schmidt—the owner of a TikTok channel that promotes portion control to an unrealistic degree. She buys small meals—such as kids meals from restaurants—eats barely half of it, and claims it keeps her full for the rest of the day. Harmful channels like these, paired with the unnatural thinness of celebrities, force young girls to turn to eating disorders to keep up with the beauty standard. Eating disorders are deadly—causing more than 10,000 deaths per year—and can leave permanent side effects like osteopenia—a loss of bone density (learn more about the side effects of anorexia here).
Another deeply harmful beauty standard is the standard to have curvy hips. Although women can naturally have curvy hips, not many do. In most women, curvy hips only appear when there is some weight on the body, meaning that women who vie for a thin waist typically cannot naturally develop curvy hips. The standard to have curvy hips, combined with the standard to have a thin waist cause women to turn to plastic surgery to fit in. Plastic surgery is a risky process, and can leave the body ruined if not done well. However, many women disregard this risk in order to attempt to fit in, leaving some with permanent injuries such as nerve damage. These permanent effects negatively impact women’s quality of life, and prevent them from enjoying their lives to the fullest.
The most prominent beauty standard nowadays is a flawless face, free of acne or other imperfections. In general, a face free of acne is not too hard to achieve, nor is it harmful. However, in our society, a flawless face includes a button nose and defined cheekbones—features which can solely be achieved through filler and plastic surgery. When getting filler, women are instructed to come back in for touch ups, told that the filler dissolves—a false statement. In reality, filler does not typically dissolve—and when it does it takes years—but rather migrates. Unfortunately, many women are not aware of this, and after becoming desensitized to their filler-filled face, believe they need more filler. This process causes Pillow Face, the puffy, unattractive result of using too much facial filler which causes one’s face to look inhuman. Although fillers can be manually dissolved, the use of them brings up the question of why women are compelled to use them in the first place if they know of the consequences.
Clearly, the prominence of beauty standards in our society deeply harms women, influencing them to alter and harm themselves simply to conform to the extreme beauty standards and avoid the judgment of others.