Never Enough in Society’s Eyes
Society teaches women that they should hate themselves. Every woman has something fundamentally wrong with her — whether it’s her waist, her face, her breasts, or her bum. There are a million options for a woman to choose from when deciding what she will loathe about herself for the rest of her life. Hating your body has become an accepted and expected reality of womanhood. To understand how women’s insecurities have turned into a trillion-dollar industry, one must realize beauty standards in terms of class, race, age, and economics. Once you understand these concepts, it is easy to see that the industry that claims to support women’s self-confidence is little more than misogyny wrapped in a pretty pink bow.
The Effect of Class
For much of human history, the ideal woman was curvaceous and full-figured; love handles signified health and regular access to food. In ancient Rome, a fair complexion was ideal because it meant a woman did not have to labor outside. In ancient India, it was considered beautiful to have long, glossy hair — hair products were exclusive and expensive. The one thing all beauty standards have in common, past and present, is that they represent something only the wealthy can achieve. When only the rich can meet beauty standards that they themselves set, they automatically become the beautiful class. Until very recently, the rich were almost viewed as a different species of human. Wealthy people were considered the superior class because they had natural intelligence, beauty, and elegance that the poor simply did not have. For thousands of years, they dictated what was beautiful and what was not, so, of course, they made physical perfection something only they could achieve.
The Effect of Race
Racism has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on beauty standards. Granted, for much of human history, racism did not take the same form as it does today. The very concept of race didn’t formally emerge until the late sixteenth century (1). The Medium (2) notes that one of the ways colonialism retained its power from the very beginning was through implementing Eurocentric beauty standards: “Beauty standards weren’t merely aesthetic preferences — they were sophisticated tools of cultural domination that could achieve what armies alone could not. By systematically devaluing indigenous features while promoting European ideals as universal markers of civilization, colonizers created a psychological dependency that outlasted their political control.” Dr. Frantz Fanon (3) described this as ‘epidermalization’ — the internalization of racial hierarchies that led to self-hatred and cultural alienation. When one fundamentally hates their natural appearance and believes another group to be superior, they become easy targets for oppression. Beauty standards have been used as psychological oppression for both the poor and racial minorities for nearly 400 years, and these standards remain foundational to modern ideals.
The Effect of Age
In the 1950s, the ideal woman was a woman. She had a grown body, a mature face; she had a female body that had gone through puberty. But in the 1960s, with the rise of second-wave feminism (4), the United States saw the birth of childlike beauty standards. When women stopped acting like helpless children, the media stopped romanticizing women and started romanticizing helpless children. Suddenly, big eyes, small hands, smooth porcelain skin, petite bodies, and young blonde hair were in every magazine. Now, sixty years later, it is a trillion-dollar industry for women to look as young as possible. Women bleach their hair to mimic childhood, buy anti-wrinkle products to erase smile lines, and go on extreme diets to remain as thin as they were before puberty. This infantilization of girls’ bodies and minds has led to the vilification of women’s bodies and minds.
Love Yourself
Beauty standards are not harmless coincidences; they are well-thought-out and executed weapons. They are meant to elevate the rich and punish the poor. These standards intend to devalue and dehumanize whole cultures to glorify the colonial powers. At their most insidious, they attempt to make women hate themselves for simply aging. Every standard has been designed to control, shame, and keep women chasing an impossible fantasy that is not even their own. In a world of impossible standards, it is crucial to remember that they only hold power over you as long as you give them that power. Ignore them. Reject them. Remember, the strongest rebellion against these standards is loving yourself.
Citations
- “The History of the Idea of Race.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 29 Aug. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/race-human/The-history-of-the-idea-of-race.
- Sadat, Nazmus. “The Invisible Chains: How Colonial Beauty Standards Continue to Shape Our Mirror’s Reflection.” Medium, 30 Jun. 2025, https://medium.com/@sadat99/the-invisible-chains-how-colonial-beauty-standards-continue-to-shape-our-mirrors-reflection-c0d8f24f3081.
- “Frantz Fanon | Biography, Writings, & Facts.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 29 Aug. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frantz-Fanon.
- “Second Wave of Feminism | Definition, Goals, Accomplishments, Leaders, & Facts.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 22 Sept. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/second-wave-feminism.
