Conformity is so last year..
Have you ever felt pressured to conform to a set of unrealistic beauty standards created by society? Do you ever feel inadequate when you have glanced upon a magazine and seen the flawless complexion and perfectly pink puckered lips of the Covergirl models smiling energetically back at you? I know I have. And I can’t speak for everyone out there but I’m assuming that most women have. You see, society has decided upon a small set of standards upon which to rank the most beautiful and attractive women in our culture, and often if you don’t live up to those standards it’s hard for you to be considered beautiful in your own right. This is a cruel and unfair way to police women into being something that they are not. Our culture does not embrace differences and celebrate the beauty in our uniqueness but rather selects a set of ideal appearances that are deemed acceptably beautiful. Many times when women and young girls don’t live up to those idealized looks of the models on TV, commercial or magazine ads, movies and runway shows they experience real psychological symptoms like anxiety, depression, stress, worthlessness and much more. Because our society focuses much of it’s attention on women’s appearances rather than unique individual characteristics many women are “forced” to spend hours at a time before leaving the house to feel comfortable in their own skin. Have you ever heard someone (a female friend, a women on TV), say they have to put their “face” on before they leave the house? To me that expression is simply stating they need to put on a “mask”. Something that hides the person underneath in order to feel acceptable in society but also feel confident in themselves. I could go on and on about how damaging beauty standards are in our society but why don’t you do me a favour and check it out yourself. Turn on your TV, open a magazine or even type in the phrase “beautiful women” in Google. What do you see? Well when I did this I saw one image that predominated the screen and pages. Try to place yourself in the shoes of the women you see on those medians. Do you see yourself? Can you relate to the women that our society considers attractive enough to display on TV or magazine ads? I decided to try the Google experiment myself. I typed in “beautiful women” on my browser and selected images and waited to see what popped up. Not to my surprise the same images we see plagued on TV and magazines were displayed on my computer screen and I wasn’t able to identify with a single one of them. For one, I wear glasses (none were pictured wearing glasses), two I don’t have a clear complexion I have pimples, acne scars, inflammation and bumps and three and my lips are not particularly plump and red and four my skin does not glow or shine like my window during the sunrise. Automatically, the images that pop up under the search “beautiful women” are covered in make-up, with flawless skin, and the perfect hair and soft simple appearances. Additionally, most of the women were white, blonde and dark eyes. I did not see variation I the images that displayed “beautiful women”: no Black women, no Asian, Muslim, Latino. Aren’t those women considered beautiful to? NO! Not according to our cultures preconceived set of ideal beauty standards. BUT to me, they are.
You see I don’t have a problem with make-up itself. I was just telling my friend yesterday that it’s not the make-up that is the problem. I believe make-up can be used as a way to express one’s personality and artist nature. Make-up is similar to clothes in that aspect in which you want to bring out your best features and play around with different coloured lipsticks or eye makeup to stand out. My problem with make-up stems from the fact that majority of women do not use makeup as a form of personal expression. Make-up is used as a way to cover up our perceived flaws, the things we don’t like about our faces, or create features that are not present initially on our complexions. Talking from experience here I have without a doubt used make-up as a means to hide my insecurities with my skin. I covered my acne, because to me acne was not beautiful. Acne was that pesky teenage symptom that we all go through that adult were not supposed to have. It made me feel bad about myself. I cried everyday before I went to work (I worked with the public) because I was afraid others would notice my skin. It was painful both physically and emotionally and I used make-up as a coping mechanism to hide from the insecurity of my acne bubbling under the surface. I know a lot of women, as well, that use make-up as a crutch. It is something that holds them up when they go outside of their home. They feel confident, secure, and comfortable when other’s gaze upon their faces because they do not see what is “truly” hiding beneath it. They don’t see why she has covered her face with make-up. The global cosmetic industry is worth over a hundred billion dollars!! That is A LOT of money we could be spending on something else!! Not to mention, that with so much money put into a product creates so much waste and environmental destruction! It’s okay I’m leaving that topic to another post, so keep reading if I haven’t lost you yet! I haven’t even got to the main point!
So are you starting to understand my problem with beauty standards and the cosmetics that these beauty standards almost “force” women into consuming and using on their bodies to hide themselves? I know what you’re thinking. Wow, Meaghan “you’re such a hateful feminist”, “don’t be so hypocritical”, “it’s just make-up”, “lighten up”, “women make the choice to wear makeup”, “no one is telling them to.” Am I right? I hope not, or I need to get some better friends! Just kidding! You’re entitled to an opinion but I’m going to tell you why you’re wrong if you’re thinking that about me. First of all, I agree that no women is forced into wearing make-up or directly told she must wear this in order to be beautiful (however, in many cases that does happen). It is though, the indirect ways that women are policed into wearing make-up and using other beauty products to “cover up”. Foundation (the skin toned pasty stuff that you slather on your skin like paint) is often called “cover up” or “concealer”; which to me is a red flag right from the beginning. This foundation is “covering” or “concealing” something that you don’t like, or something that society doesn’t like. As I stated earlier, look at the images around you in the media. Can you identify with any of them? What strikes you about the images that are advertised for women’s beauty and health? There is NO variation! There is nothing RAW or REAL about those images. And countless times many actresses or models have flat out stated that, the image that was created is NOT even them. Photoshop does wonders people. It can literally make you someone you’re not in a matter of minutes. So are we really looking at real women when we glance upon images in our magazines that advertise the best beauty products to get the “look of the year,” Nine times out of ten, you’re not even looking at a real person you would come across on the street.
Okay so, here is my main point. BEAUTY STANDARDS ARE TOXIC!!! They are toxic to our mind, toxic to our emotions and our health. Make-up as a form of cover up is a sense of powerlessness whereas makeup as a sense of self-expression is powerful. However, the powerful side of make-up is often lost in the desire to look a certain way based on our societies accepted images that are classified as beautiful. Beauty is also toxic to our health because make-up contains countless amounts of toxic chemicals that can cause negative reactions in our bodies and have harmful consequences on our health. If you’ve ever read the back of your foundation or mascara (if you can read the fine print that is), you’ll see first hand that most of those words are barely even English. The companies are not transparent, as in they do not allow us to understand the ingredients that are used in their products. They don’t tell use what the ingredients are. They don’t tell us how they are made. What kinds of chemical reactions are used to create the products and they don’t tell use if they are harmful or non- harmful!!! According to Julie Gabriel “about 90% of cosmetic ingredients have never been analyzed for health impacts.” She discuses this phenomenon in her book The Green Beauty Guide: The Effects synthetic products have on you; Organic make-up, moisturizers, and hair care; Shortcuts to going green without going broke; How to sport organic frauds and gimmicks, which I highly recommend you look into reading (you can find it at your local library for free)!
Over 1,300 chemicals commonly used in cosmetics are banned from use in the European Union but only 11 are banned in the United States. Canada doesn't fair much better either. We live in countries that are based on free choice but they don't gives us information to make informed free choices. Large companies are not required to label harmful chemicals even though it would mean keeping the citizens of our countries safe? It would actually cost a lot less money if we invested in products that were driven from harmful chemicals and rather safe because than we wouldn't have to put money into treatments or medications when we get sick. Bottom line, you never have to trust someone just because they are in a position of authority because they do not often have your best interests in mind. Always challenge the norm and look for alternatives. Your life, your body, your decisions. Which means you have a right to make informed decisions!
You see I don’t have a problem with make-up itself. I was just telling my friend yesterday that it’s not the make-up that is the problem. I believe make-up can be used as a way to express one’s personality and artist nature. Make-up is similar to clothes in that aspect in which you want to bring out your best features and play around with different coloured lipsticks or eye makeup to stand out. My problem with make-up stems from the fact that majority of women do not use makeup as a form of personal expression. Make-up is used as a way to cover up our perceived flaws, the things we don’t like about our faces, or create features that are not present initially on our complexions. Talking from experience here I have without a doubt used make-up as a means to hide my insecurities with my skin. I covered my acne, because to me acne was not beautiful. Acne was that pesky teenage symptom that we all go through that adult were not supposed to have. It made me feel bad about myself. I cried everyday before I went to work (I worked with the public) because I was afraid others would notice my skin. It was painful both physically and emotionally and I used make-up as a coping mechanism to hide from the insecurity of my acne bubbling under the surface. I know a lot of women, as well, that use make-up as a crutch. It is something that holds them up when they go outside of their home. They feel confident, secure, and comfortable when other’s gaze upon their faces because they do not see what is “truly” hiding beneath it. They don’t see why she has covered her face with make-up. The global cosmetic industry is worth over a hundred billion dollars!! That is A LOT of money we could be spending on something else!! Not to mention, that with so much money put into a product creates so much waste and environmental destruction! It’s okay I’m leaving that topic to another post, so keep reading if I haven’t lost you yet! I haven’t even got to the main point!
So are you starting to understand my problem with beauty standards and the cosmetics that these beauty standards almost “force” women into consuming and using on their bodies to hide themselves? I know what you’re thinking. Wow, Meaghan “you’re such a hateful feminist”, “don’t be so hypocritical”, “it’s just make-up”, “lighten up”, “women make the choice to wear makeup”, “no one is telling them to.” Am I right? I hope not, or I need to get some better friends! Just kidding! You’re entitled to an opinion but I’m going to tell you why you’re wrong if you’re thinking that about me. First of all, I agree that no women is forced into wearing make-up or directly told she must wear this in order to be beautiful (however, in many cases that does happen). It is though, the indirect ways that women are policed into wearing make-up and using other beauty products to “cover up”. Foundation (the skin toned pasty stuff that you slather on your skin like paint) is often called “cover up” or “concealer”; which to me is a red flag right from the beginning. This foundation is “covering” or “concealing” something that you don’t like, or something that society doesn’t like. As I stated earlier, look at the images around you in the media. Can you identify with any of them? What strikes you about the images that are advertised for women’s beauty and health? There is NO variation! There is nothing RAW or REAL about those images. And countless times many actresses or models have flat out stated that, the image that was created is NOT even them. Photoshop does wonders people. It can literally make you someone you’re not in a matter of minutes. So are we really looking at real women when we glance upon images in our magazines that advertise the best beauty products to get the “look of the year,” Nine times out of ten, you’re not even looking at a real person you would come across on the street.
Okay so, here is my main point. BEAUTY STANDARDS ARE TOXIC!!! They are toxic to our mind, toxic to our emotions and our health. Make-up as a form of cover up is a sense of powerlessness whereas makeup as a sense of self-expression is powerful. However, the powerful side of make-up is often lost in the desire to look a certain way based on our societies accepted images that are classified as beautiful. Beauty is also toxic to our health because make-up contains countless amounts of toxic chemicals that can cause negative reactions in our bodies and have harmful consequences on our health. If you’ve ever read the back of your foundation or mascara (if you can read the fine print that is), you’ll see first hand that most of those words are barely even English. The companies are not transparent, as in they do not allow us to understand the ingredients that are used in their products. They don’t tell use what the ingredients are. They don’t tell us how they are made. What kinds of chemical reactions are used to create the products and they don’t tell use if they are harmful or non- harmful!!! According to Julie Gabriel “about 90% of cosmetic ingredients have never been analyzed for health impacts.” She discuses this phenomenon in her book The Green Beauty Guide: The Effects synthetic products have on you; Organic make-up, moisturizers, and hair care; Shortcuts to going green without going broke; How to sport organic frauds and gimmicks, which I highly recommend you look into reading (you can find it at your local library for free)!
Over 1,300 chemicals commonly used in cosmetics are banned from use in the European Union but only 11 are banned in the United States. Canada doesn't fair much better either. We live in countries that are based on free choice but they don't gives us information to make informed free choices. Large companies are not required to label harmful chemicals even though it would mean keeping the citizens of our countries safe? It would actually cost a lot less money if we invested in products that were driven from harmful chemicals and rather safe because than we wouldn't have to put money into treatments or medications when we get sick. Bottom line, you never have to trust someone just because they are in a position of authority because they do not often have your best interests in mind. Always challenge the norm and look for alternatives. Your life, your body, your decisions. Which means you have a right to make informed decisions!