A Girl Stand Before Her Mirror

As of recently, the media has been flooded with positive interpretations of beauty standards all over the world. According to various sources, beauty ideals, in women especially, are socially constructed in order to judge a person’s value based on physical attractiveness; therefore, it is highly encouraged that people pay attention to their looks and take care of themselves, in order for others to create a positive first impression of one’s character. It is no secret that beauty standards vary from one culture to the next and it is difficult to establish a universal principle of what is considered beautiful. Many countries’ ideals contrast one another and, as a result, allow for stereotypes to emerge. This is the case between American

Personal Looks: As humans we are visual creatures and highly value looks and personal looks in specific. Though it is acceptable to value how we look there is a darker side of the issues of personal looks. Many individuals both male and female are not satisfied with their looks leading into some disturbing

Society and the media have an enormous influence on an individual’s concept of beauty and bodily perfection. Even the “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” many people allow the media’s influence into their lives, which is a dangerous thing to allow (Vogel, 2015). According to David Newman, author of Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life, society is defined as the “population of people living in the same geographic area who share a culture and a common identity and whose members fall under the same political authority” (Newman, 2010, 18). The people within a society constantly create and add to the pressure already placed on individuals which can severely alter and harm one’s self-esteem. Self-esteem is

In people’s perspective, attractiveness possess a wide variety of positive personal qualities compared to unattractive people. Result from the study on physical attractiveness stereotypes show the attractive people had the most positive ratings. For example, they are judged as less disturbed, rated as happier and more successful, and more likely to be hired after a job interview. Thus, the concept of attractiveness having a correlation between an individual’s physical appearance and his/her achievements, abilities, psychological well-being and/or other status characteristics to create a perception is

Most people in today’s society are not pleased with their image, whether it is physically or how they form their character. In “Enhance Your Body Image” (2015) Rebecca J. Donatelle opens her essay with “When you look in the mirror, do you like what you see? If you feel disappointed, frustrated, or even angry like Ali, you’re not alone.” She continues with a study depicting 80 percent of women are dissatisfied with their appearance (p.339). This does not only mean physical appearance; Santiago Quintana in “The Space In-Between” (2015) talks about how he did not belong in his social environment because resulting in him being bullied. A person’s values are molded by cultural influence, friends and family; furthermore, to be appreciative of

The central message of this work is that society is obsessed with appearances. The point the author is trying to make is beauty should not be the most important trait of a person. In today’s society everything is based on looks, people are more concerned about a person’s outward appearance. People strive to

70% of ladies admitted that they would ignore or avoid a potential love interest because of the way they looked (Buchanan). We live in a world where superficial beauty is an important advantage especially when choosing a partner in life. People try their hardest to look attractive and gone are the days when inner beauty are more accounted for. What if you have the opportunity to choose between an understanding, kind but not good-looking guy and an inconsiderate, selfish but stunningly appealing man? The 2017 Disney movie Beauty and the Beast is an epic hero myth which shows us that real love and beauty are not only about physical appearance but looking beyond what you can see and seeing one’s character within.

As I was reading The Beauty Bias, by Deborah L. Rhodes, I came across a statistic that perplexed me, saying the total “annual global investment in grooming” comes to $115 billion (Rhodes, pg. 32). This shocking fact provokes a worrisome question: Why do we, humans, spend so much time, money, and thought on our appearance? As a complex question, there are several equally complex answers. However, the simple answer is that everyone else invests their time and thought into your outer shell, eliciting effort from you to improve what they study - your external image. The concern placed on one’s fashion choice or natural features by society takes away from larger, more pressing issues such as the declining economy, or feeding third-world countries.

Humans tend to judge other based on their outward appearance. Appearances offer insight about a person’s identity, such as their cultural background, the clothes they wear offers a glimpse of their aesthetic taste and uniforms reveal where a person works. However, the most important parts of our identities are not always visible, and often times looks can deceive. “Uglies” by Scott Westerfeld expresses that outward appearances are not an essential part of one’s identity.

In this day and age, the epidemic of these so called ‘beauty’ standards is only getting worse and worse. Because of photo modification, low self esteem in regular everyday people is starting to become something that is nearly considered normal. Today, 42% of girls from age 5-8 want to be skinnier, 52% of girls aged 9 to 13 feel better when they are dieting and by the age of 17, 78% of girls are unhappy with their own bodies. Think about

Girl before a Mirror, an oil on canvas painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, shows two sides of a girl; one which is illustrated with a dark tone and one with a vibrant colorful tone. This painting is bright; colors are at full intensity and are arranged next to their complements, producing a visual relationship between shape and form. Forms are used to draw the viewer’s eye across the canvas where circular shapes, repeating throughout the work, are compensated by the pattern of diagonal lines of the background. The viewer observes the girl’s profile and full frontal image, looking into a mirror and noticing a different image of herself. In order to achieve this effect, Picasso uses a range of formal elements that highlight the

The Halo Effect is the cognitive bias that generalizes that if an individual has one outstanding favorable character trait, the rest of that individual’s trait will be favorable. Specific to physical attractiveness, this is known as the “Attractiveness Halo.” Attractiveness plays an important role in determining social interactions. In fact, the physical attractiveness of an individual is a vital social cue utilized by others to evaluate other aspects of that individual’s abilities (Kenealy, Frude, & Shaw, 2001). Because of the attractiveness halo, attractive applicants trying to enter the workforce tend to

An enduring problem in today’s society, especially with children, has to deal with sociality. Public appearance is very important to us and when we don’t look good, or have a low self-esteem, it can lead to further issues,

Some people occasionally feel that their own appearance is unacceptable to society because of what others are expecting based on published media. Those include, social media, published articles, and even movies and TV shows. The media’s portrayal of beauty has had a generational effect on American society with young people falling victim to unrealistic standards. Failing to participate in these ideals can lead to non acceptance, ostracization, and even bullying due to the unfounded judgements of those who do participate in the beauty standards perpetuated by the media. As a matter of fact, research on the impact of those ideals have been done. Many of the studies have been made based on the outlook of people who would most likely be affected by the media, and their arguments refute the idea that the media doesn’t impact people. The concept of having or being pressured into aiming for unrealistic visions based on what society deems acceptable is absurd and should be addressed. Although in the past decades, women have been the center of beauty, during the present time, the portrayal of beauty is no longer limited to females only. The vision of beauty applies to both male and female teenagers, young adults and adults. Based on what you own, dress like, and even the way you act determines if you are considered beautiful by the media. The ultimate goal of this paper is to explore the reasons on why media affect people, how some feel pressured into changing just for the fear of

A few relationships tend to be based solely on their partner’s level of attractiveness. We determine how attractive someone is, “ the prejudice of deciding what to do based solely on outward appearance could cost the pursuer the chance of a meaningful relationship” (Modern Day Adages). Although someone is “better” looking doesn’t mean anything when it comes to their character and personality. An “average” person can be more beautiful on the inside than a “better” looking person. As a society, we need to give others the opportunity to show themselves even if they’re “average.”