I want to talk about a long-standing topic that affects all genders, most especially women. It’s a topic that can affect our self-esteem, as well as our mental and physical health: beauty standards and body image.
First, let’s talk about beauty standards. Have you ever been teased for having a flat nose or dark-colored skin? Have you ever thought about getting plastic surgeries to conceal the imperfections that you have? Well, let me give you some advice, honey: Don’t let society get to you!
We live in an age in which eurocentric beauty is embedded in the community. Having eurocentric features is what society deems beautiful, but having typical Filipino features such as long dark hair, dark skin, large eyes, and being medium-sized can sometimes be meant as an insult. This is the sad reality that we live in because the external beauty ideals for Filipino women have become wholly unrealistic.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with plastic surgeries. I truly believe that if you want something to be done to enhance your features then you should go for it, but should we normalize it? This is what society has done to the standards of beauty.
We are fed this idea that plastic surgery is the only way to make us feel beautiful and feel good about ourselves, but the truth is we are all beautiful, with or without it. We just have to embrace ourselves and not let society get to our heads because if we do then our lack of self-esteem and insecurity will build-up which could affect us mentally, and that is never okay.
When I was younger, I always wanted to have fair skin because it was what I saw on the television. Advertisements of celebrities using whitening products made my younger self think that having fair skin was the way to be beautiful. Another crazy thing with the society that we live in is that the color of our skin can be associated with representations of wealth and influence.
If you have fair skin, people treat you differently and that’s an ugly truth. There are so many instances of advertisements telling us to have whiter skin. I think it’s time for us to be more progressive and for people to change their outlook when it comes to beauty standards. The concept of beauty should be inclusive and diversified.
Second, I want to talk about body image. Body image is a person’s recognition of the aesthetic beauty and sexual appeal of their body. It's how we view ourselves from the perspective imposed by what society thinks as attractive.
Just like beauty standards, the media and society’s ideals of body image are nonsensical.
[Trigger Warning: Eating Disorder]
When I was around 14 and 15, I was so obsessed with losing weight. It got to the point wherein I was too afraid to eat; I would just give out my lunch and every time that I ate, I felt like I was going to explode, so I always forced myself to purge. It was not the finest moment and it’s something that I’m not proud of. Although I lost a lot of weight, I was not happy. My insecurities and self-consciousness ate me alive.
As I got older, I realized what I was doing was not for myself but to reach the imaginary brass ring of expectations society wanted me to achieve. I realized that women should not endure all these worries. Women should reassess and embrace who they are without comparing themselves to other women. We should be able to lift each other up and reform the unrealistic ideals set by society. We are all beautiful regardless of how we look or how much we weigh. And this goes not just for women, but for any person out there who should be reminded to not let society define who they are because of exceedingly high beauty and body standards.
We have it within us to be comfortable in our own skin. Embrace and love yourselves because the only valid acceptance that we need is our own. Don’t let society define what is or isn’t beautiful; let us be the judges of our own runway and walk it like we own it.
Comments