Impossible Standards
Looking through any of the women’s weeklies, it’s clear to see why most, if not all, young women have self-esteem issues. On the front cover of this month’s issue of Closer, Geordie Shore reality star Charlotte Crosby is shown in before and after shots boasting about her weight loss.
Switch over to New! magazine and Michelle Keegan is slammed for eating healthily to maintain her slim figure. This kind of hypocrisy regarding what women should look and be like is rife throughout the media.
Social Media Judgement
In a world where women are judged for their looks instead of their merits, the pressure to be perfect is at an all-time high. If you look on any Facebook, YouTube, X, or Instagram coming from or about a successful woman, countless comments will be about her appearance. A woman could find cures for all life-threatening diseases and still be judged by how she looks! Women who are perceived to be ‘perfect’ are praised immeasurably for their physical form alone.
Liposuction + Photoshop
Beauty standards are set to an impossible standard, with Photoshop arguably being the biggest culprit. Photographs are manipulated to such a length that the original person might as well have not been there at all – limbs are lengthened enough for the photographed woman to rival Mr Tickle, skin tones are changed, the smallest of natural blemishes such as moles are removed, pores become non-existent, waists and thighs are slimmed, and breasts are enlarged. These barely real images are then presented as the common ideal. It is not just desired but expected of girls to look a particular way. Those who go against society’s idea of perfection are ridiculed in real life and by the media. They are told they are undesirable, destined for unhappiness and no success. This message means that our generation has taken drastic measures to attain that perfection.
In 2024, over 55,000 cosmetic surgery procedures were carried out in the UK, with an average rise of 17% in each type of procedure (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons). Liposuction was the most increasingly popular request, rising by 41%, reflecting the constant eagle-eyed surveillance of women’s weight. In contrast, the overall most popular procedure continued to breast augmentation because clearly, women can’t have surplus fat anywhere other than their chests.
The Burden of ‘Perfection’
Even the girls who fit the accepted idea of perfection struggle to accept themselves, picking out the most unnoticeable flaw they see in themselves. The idea of perfection is so unrealistic that it appears to be something no human can reach.