Hello again my lovelies :)
Hope you are having a great week so far :)
Today I am going to be discussing society's expectations, the pressure we feel from this and ways one can prevent the need to live up to these unnecessary expectations.
In this world, we are constantly being reminded of what the 'perfect woman' or 'perfect man' should look like with the use of television, Internet etc. Only those who help advertise certain products on T.V are seen as society's idea of 'perfect'. Take a look at this image below and see how similar the girl on the left matches up with the ideal face proportions on the right.
As you can see, the young woman on the right's face has been mathematically proportioned portraying society's idea of 'perfect'. In other words known as the Golden Ratio. Since introducing this to the world of media, women are constantly trying to live up to these expectations in order to 'fit in'.
An area of employment that could be one example for raising one's insecurities and lowering their confidence levels is modelling requirements. I looked at what requirements stand for models.com, here you will see the strict standards they have as they list specific height and weight measurements.
I also notice an 'instruction' they point out which can put a lot of applicants under pressure, 'Your success will depend a lot on your looks, stats .. and your personality'. If I was in this situation of wanting to apply for models.com and read this, the only thoughts running through my mind would be
1. Does my face fit in with the Golden Ratio? I'd probably take some selfies and COMPARE myself to the guidelines in the image I placed earlier on.
2. What if my personality isn't what they're looking for because 'being yourself' isn't good enough anymore. I need to be the opposite of this.
And finally, what if my weight and height measurements don't fit? Hopefully I have enough time to lose some weight if that be the only PROBLEM.
I hope you understand where I'm going with this..
Another example that portrays a messing around with one's insecurities is the world of makeup. Ladies, I love it, we all love it, but why?
Makeup is another problem which unfortunately lowers a girls self esteem as over the years it's often used to completely cover ones face hiding their natural beauty away as though ASHAMED by it. When we see beauty products such as mascara, foundation and concealer advertised on television, we are promised that these products will 'volumise and extend our lashes' or 'give amazing coverage' 'transform'. These are all used by different brands advertising the same product, competing against each other by deceiving their audience to believe that their foundation/mascara/concealer will enable you to mirror the woman advertising it. Here the company is taking advantage of a young girl's insecurities and also raising them by not only showing us what we need to look like in order to be 'beautiful' or 'perfect' but using it to grab their money.
Only since we watch these adverts on either bikinis/underwear (another example), makeup or runways shows as The Face where I saw, or what I thought I saw them as beautiful women, were turned down for the slightest of reasons. These are the reasons for putting ourselves down because we don't look like either the winner of The Face, the young girl advertising makeup or not wanting that bikini anymore because the model wore it better.
Instead of having the mindset we should have which is accepting our looks and realising that everyone is different and therefore unique. If we all looked the same the world would honestly be a boring place. I'm not saying we shouldn't buy makeup, a little mascara never hurt anyone. All I'm trying to get across here is that nobody is perfect but we are all uniquely beautiful. Makeup is fun and creative, just don't forget that gorgeous face underneath that although it isn't a clone of the model's appearance, it is different but it is still beautiful. We need to forget society's constant reminder of this 'ideal perfection', don't listen to it.
❤️
- 14:11
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