Catie

It seems like these days, standards are so high. Especially for beauty.

It’s not just girls, either. Sure, the media only mentions girls, so it’s really only girls that we think about as being under pressure to look perfect, but is that really true? I mean, boys are under that same pressure, because we have this preconceived idea that boys should be muscled (ripped, really), have six packs and huge biceps, and be able to lift a ridiculous amount. They have to have a sharp jawline and flawless hair, a perfect smile and perfect, straight teeth. They have to be amazing at sports, they have to fulfill our idea of macho-manliness.

I’ve rambled on about boys for long enough -- now it’s time for girls. (Get ready for this, it’s going to be long.) Okay. Well, I suppose I’ll dive in at makeup. As good a place as any, I guess. Girls feel required at such a young age to cake their faces with makeup, to cover any imperfections or blemishes, to look appealing to boys. I mean, why can’t girls go out fresh-faced and completely bare and not feel self-conscious, embarrassed and judged? (Read over that sentence again… Yeah, I feel disgusted with society, too.)

That’s not even getting close because man, that’s a whole other can of worms. (Ready those can-openers and towels, this might get messy.) In this society, girls are placed into two categories: skinny and curvy. Each wish that they were other type, and wow, isn’t that sad? The media has influenced society so much over the past few decades with magazine covers with pretty, skinny women on them, looking completely flawless, and making the average girl or woman feel completely and utterly inadequate and small. Models these days starve themselves simply to fit modern-day standards, and that’s not healthy. Some of those girls get so hungry they eat tissue, refusing to put any calories into their frail, tiny bodies. (Oh, wait. I just described anorexics, which includes average women.) Where did we go so wrong? Well, somewhere along the road, some high and powerful exec at a huge magazine company recognized this and used their god-like power to pull strings and get curvy girls on covers. Not to mention to include hundreds of polls men took declaring their preference for curvy, and the media was flipping back and forth between “what’s best” so quickly it was like we were getting whiplash. And then they flipped again, and once more. Honestly, Mr. Bigwig Exec., just decide. (Preferably in favor of average women who aren’t photoshopped. Yup.)

Now, I think I can sum up the whole of this article in two words: Unrealistic standards. Or maybe even one word: Perfection. Ahh, yes, the elusive trait that humans have chased for centuries, and yet, nobody seems to achieve. (Such are the burdens of humanity….) Oh, wait! That’s right, people can’t be perfect, I forgot! Actually, I’m not too surprised that I forgot, because I’m still living with this idea and that I have to be perfect. (That’s what the media tells me and every other young and impressionable mind in the world, at least.) In the end, that’s all it’s about. Perfection.