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Maddie Bender

Professor Mulhern

ENGH 101-028

30 September 2018

The Brainwashing Nature of Beauty Standards

I’m a bigger girl. Some people see that as a bad thing, but I certainly don’t. Not anymore

at least. I was extremely insecure growing up, and high school was an especially hard time for

me to overcome my self-image issues. One day in gym class everyone was sitting and talking on

the bleachers. I remember hearing this boy and girl sitting directly behind me comparing people

in our class to different foods. After comparing a few people, they got to me. Their exchange

went like this: “Now, Maddie.” “She’s like sausage links.” I couldn’t believe their audacity to

say that when I was right in front of them. Just because I am bigger, and I don’t fit their beauty

standard, it doesn’t give them the right to say anything about my body. This experience taught

me that I cannot let the words of others affect me when their only goal is to hurt me. This

experience also taught me another important thing: we are all brainwashed by the beauty

standards set by the media.

Beauty standards can be found in television shows, movies, magazines, and other forms

of media. We always see a beautiful protagonist getting the boy or girl of their dreams and

having a happily ever after. We see beautiful, fit men and women on the cover of magazines. We

are surrounded by visuals of the “ideal” body, and this “perfect” image is programmed into our

brains from such a young age, that it carries over into our lives as young adults and beyond.

Typically, this body for a woman in America is a thin, white woman with long hair and large

breasts. For a man, this is someone who is white, muscular, and masculine. For some reason,
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when someone doesn’t seem to fit this mold they are viewed in negative lights and we form

stigmas against them. Over and over I have faced people who have some sort of “fatphobia.”

People think that since I’m bigger, I don’t deserve respect like everyone else. As early as

kindergarten I was being called fat by other kids. In middle school, I had “friends” who would

say I probably go home after school and start snacking. By the time I was in high school, I had

fatphobia towards myself and I tried products like Sensa and Nutrisystem in an attempt lose

weight. I, and even skinny friends of mine, would see these representations of beauty in the

media and have our self-esteem go lower day by day.

These beauty standards that brainwash us are not only focused on body type, they also

target a variety of physical features. These physical features can include facial features and body

hair. Lip plumping products and Nair, the hair removal cream, are very popular products here in

America as I’m sure you know. Slogans to these products include “Kiss your thin lips goodbye!”

and “The Less That You Wear, the More You Need Nair!” Hearing and seeing these things in the

media trick us into thinking that things like thin lips are a bad thing, and that if someone wants to

wear shorts and a tank tops, then they need to get rid of any body hair they might have.

Skin tone/color is another physical feature that beauty standards focus on. Many people

of different races and ethnicities often feel underrepresented in the media. In America

specifically, many people of color grow up feeling that not having snow-white skin is something

to be frowned upon. I can recall countless times where my black friends have said they

wish/used to wish they were white. I can also recall many times where my Middle Eastern and

Indian friends have told me that their parents have wanted them to have lighter skin. Sadly, I’m

sure many of you have heard similar stories from friends. In South Korea, many of the skincare

products advertise some sort of “lightening” affect. Many Korean celebrities will get praised if
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they have lighter skin, and even have fans that edit photos of them to make them look paler.

Skin-lightening creams and other skin-lightening products are also very popular in countries like

Thailand, Abidjan, India, and other countries where the native people have darker skin. The

advertisements will often compare a sad looking woman with darker skin, to someone smiling

with significantly brighter skin. With advertising like this, you’re made to think that your skin

color isn’t beautiful or acceptable, and that you should change it with products like these.

On the other hand, some people may argue that beauty standards aren’t actually hurting

anyone and that we aren’t brainwashed. People may say they are just images we see every day,

but there’s no harm done with pictures or films. If anything, beauty standards help us by, for

example, promoting a healthier lifestyle. If we see images of thin people all around us, it could

inspire us to achieve a body like that by eating healthier and exercising. So, these beauty

standards could be beneficial, rather than a negative thing.

While this argument has valid points, it fails to recognize the dangers that beauty

standards pose. Health is not something that is black and white. You cannot determine health by

looking at someone. Beauty standards affect people negatively more than anything. Many

people, especially at our age, face body-image issues. Out of 41 Mason students that I surveyed,

68.3% answered “No” when asked if they were confident/comfortable with their body/self. Of

those who said “No,” 71.4% said they are not confident/comfortable with their body/self because

of the beauty standards set by the media. When the 41 Mason students were asked if there has

ever been a time where they’ve felt unconfident/uncomfortable with their body/self because of

the beauty standards set by the media, 95.1% answered “Yes” to my survey. This shows that

beauty standards are doing way more harm than good.

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The standards that us Mason students have grown up viewing are unattainable and

unhealthy. The media has continually portrayed the same type of person, and companies

monopolize off of it. This makes us think that whatever “flaw” we may have must be fixed, or

we won’t be beautiful. Over the past year or so, I have finally become confident and comfortable

with myself and my body despite the beauty standards that I am surrounded by. The darkest

times of my life have been because of my insecurities I felt from beauty standards. It was a

shame to be brainwashed.