Beauty standards have changed over centuries, but the importance of beauty never seems to fade away. Every person you ask would be able to give you a different answer about the reasons beauty is important to them.
It mainly revolves around the good feeling it gives. The description of the beautiful features also differs from person to person, but one thing we know for sure – we all want them.
This is why millions of people chase after fitting into these standards and why the power of beauty isn’t going to end soon.
Here are the reasons for society’s obsession with beauty!
1) We are raised like that
From the moment a girl is born, we buy sweet clothes with matching colors and a hairband that goes with it. Every birthday, there is a new dress that has to dazzle all the guests.
The boys need to have a nice haircut and matching clothes that will show the world that he is properly cared for and that he looks beautiful. There is a suit for special occasions.
Every time parents go out with the girls, friends, and family showers them with compliments about their beauty, rarely about their creativity and intelligence. This is how the importance of beauty slowly starts to stir.
It is also about the cartoons children watch as well. The cartoons show the beautiful princesses in the nicest clothes meeting the love of their life, so they can “live happily ever after”.
None of the cartoons show ugly girls, at least not in a positive context. Cinderella was poor but beautiful. Snow White was the most beautiful girl in the Kingdom.
There is Sleeping Beauty as well. All the beautiful girls find their love, while ugly ones stay alone.
This is how we start believing that we need beauty to be happy in life. And this is not where the message ends.
We believe that beautiful people are good because every beautiful girl from the fairy tales suffers injustice from someone ugly from the story. Now, these messages are so subtle and go deep into our unconscious mind that we don’t give them a second thought throughout our adult life.
Our parents don’t read these fairy tales to burden us in life, but they are here for so long that we don’t think about their meaning anymore. However, if you scratch the surface, you will realize where your beliefs about beauty started.
The deeper you dig, the more you will be able to discover the inner layers of the story and their impact on us even when we are older. It is very complex.
Each of these fairy tales has a moral of the story and can help children cope with their fears better, but that’s a whole other story. The beauty is in the center of it.
2) The school years are harsh
Kids in a school can be cruel in numerous ways. We see how beautiful girls get presents, get invitations for all the parties, while the girls who don’t fit the imaginary standards stay at home and go through all kinds of troubles because of their looks.
This is when we start making extraordinary efforts to look good. The clothes we wear has to be the best one, we start using tone of makeup to make our features pop.
This is when we actually start building an image about ourselves and when we notice just how good it feels when someone gives us a compliment about the way we look. Suddenly, we realize at one point that we feel insecure without makeup because those are thousands of hours under these products in a lifetime.
Don’t get me wrong, makeup can be a fun way to play and it has helped millions of women around the world to feel better about themselves, but it is all about the balance. When the balance is off, we want all of it just to feel better.
This is why we want that new blush, we can’t go out without mascara or lipstick. Our bathrooms are full of cosmetics, while we still feel dissatisfied and empty.
3) The beauty industry is enormous
Billions of dollars are invested every year into the production of cosmetics and the clothes that we wear. Think about it – no one would make money out of the completely satisfied woman who doesn’t need anything.
This is why the commercials instantly hit our insecurities. Pay close attention to the things they say in the commercial.
It is usually something like: Is your skin dry? Are you taking proper care of it?
And what do you do – you think “oh well, I need this, my skin is truly dry” and off you go to spend some money. Marketing wizards are professionals at what they do.
They play with our minds so we can buy more, get more, and want more. This is how the never-ending cycle starts.
Everywhere we go, there is something new to buy. Researchers constantly search for ways to develop a new product that women don’t want to live without.
The commercials usually show people having fun, finding love while using it, so every person sitting at home watching it will take in some of that idea. There are also findings of a so-called “lipstick effect” when women tend to buy lipsticks when the finances drop.
So, even during harsh times, women are concerned about beauty. It is a way to overcome difficulties and to show the strengths to the world.
It is like a woman is saying to live “you can’t bring me down, I can still look good”. It is a form of silent fight in the world.
Every woman that goes through hardship will put on lipstick, wear a smile, and lift her head high just to beat the fear and turn the odds in her favor.
4) We are bombarded with subtle messages
When you go online, there are all these flawless girls smiling, showing their perfect teeth, being happy and satisfied. We walk the street and see the billboards with more gorgeous girls looking stunning without one line on their faces.
These are just two examples, but there are many others that come from every possible side to our minds. We spend so much time online that our brains cannot process the information coming our way so fast.
This is when we become too receptive to all the subtle messages that we don’t even think about anymore. It is usually the moment when we start feeling bad about our lives and our appearances.
When we are not in a good place in our lives and we start seeing stunning people, we can feel even worse. This is usually when we start working on our looks more.
And what happens when we feel bad? We buy.
It is as simple as that.
With the popularity of social media, beauty standards have raised so much that we simply cannot keep up. The women who start believing in this lie start feeling depressed in the moments when they need support instead of seeing happy good-looking people.
Lately, there have been some slight changes in the world which is truly positive. The influencers show how they look on pictures after they have been edited versus their real looks to help women feel better about themselves.
This is making a difference, but the change is happening very slowly. Some women edit their photos so heavily to get closer to the beauty standards that they don’t look like themselves anymore.
5) The standards are too high
As previously mentioned, social media has caused a tremendous change in the way we perceive beauty. Even though there are efforts to make the beauty standards inclusive, there are still some unrealistic standards that can be rather considered an exception than the rule.
Even since the family Kardashian appeared on our screens, the way that Kim Kardashian looks has been making people talk about her. She is a truly beautiful woman, she has curves, a thin waist, black hair, lovely face.
She resembles Jasmine from the cartoon Aladdin, right? Well, there are certainly lots of similarities.
She has done some minor changes on her face and body, but her genetics has greatly helped. However, the interesting thing is that now all the girls want to look like Kim.
All of the sudden, the implant industry exploded and so many girls wanted to look like her. Now, in the ideal world, we would simply give compliments to her and move on with our lives.
But, what happens instead? Millions of dollars are spent worldwide so numerous girls can look like her.
This is when marketing comes into play. Without it, the success of this campaign would be zero.
Her family made a fortune on her looks and then just kept developing it further. They are a phenomenon that hardly anyone can explain.
Now, girls who look completely different from her want to achieve that and they can’t, so this is when the problem with self-esteem occurs and when the obsession starts.
6) Beauty is hypnotic
No one can deny the fact that someone has very beautiful features it is so hypnotic, we can watch them all day. Just look at the actors.
For a long time, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were considered the most beautiful people in the world. Just looking at them makes us feel good.
They have charisma and looking at their full lips while they talk is so satisfying. Their movies earned so much money at the box office, but the movie they did together Mr. and Ms. Smith was an even bigger success.
We all wanted to look at them and see how their children will look.
Kate Moss was one of the most successful models in the world and her unique features made her famous around the world. Together with other models, she changed the way industry functioned and the way women around the world wanted to look.
Naomi Campbell was most famous for her catwalk, but her face is so attractive that she would be able to sell anything to anyone. Her eyes look so mesmerizing and those full lips are hard to miss.
Elle Macpherson got the nickname “The body” because her physique was the ideal the whole world is longing for. She achieved enormous success because of the way she looks.
All these women are more than just their physical features, most of them became businesswomen, but all of that is secondary to what we see and want to look at.
The fact is, we all feel good when we look good. It is all connected.
We can sometimes trick our brains to feel better when we dress up. This is where the essence of the industry lies.
7) The importance of inner beauty
People who work on spirituality understand the importance of nurturing the inner beauty as well as nurturing the outer shell. It is the core of our personality and what actually makes us beautiful.
We can all witness that some people who cannot be considered beautiful by the standards take our attention the moment they start to talk. Some people are simply so magnetic because of the way their soul radiates.
This is why it is necessary to go beyond the physical features and understand the complexity of beauty. Every single thing counts.
When we start working on our weaknesses, the negative traits start disappearing. Being free from negativity can certainly impact the way you smile and look in general.
We are only human and we have plenty of insecurities to struggle with. Dealing with each one can take time, but the results are incredible.
Final thoughts
It is sometimes so magnetic about beauty. It cannot be entirely explained.
It is something we all want to achieve. With the progress of plastic surgeries, the use of Botox, make-up, wonderful clothes, it was never easier to look exactly the way you want to.
The appearance can be changed any way you like. It is just important for all of us to remember how important it is to nurture the soul since it will radiate our energy and show to the world what we truly are.
Meanwhile, we will look at the way beauty standards change and develop. The world is going in the right direction concerning accepting various beauty standards instead of just forcing one kind.
I hope in the near future there will be less pressure on women and they will be what they truly are – in touch with the beauty that comes from within!
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