For decades the media, entertainment, cosmetics and fashion industries have influenced the beauty standards created for women. As a result, certain body types and looks have become predominant measures for beauty in our societies. The established standards of younger, taller, thinner, paler – are often very detached from the way the majority of real women look. Case in point, the average American woman is 5’4” tall and weights from 140 - 146 pounds. The average American model is 5’11” tall and weighs anywhere from 108 to 117 pounds. Consequently, most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women- an unreal standard that too many women and girls are trying to live up to. Thus, an average of 7 million women in the United States struggle with eating disorders. This measure of female beauty is sold to women at very young ages, studies report that 42% of little girls in 1st and 3rd grades want to be thinner.
A consequence of this beauty standard is that the female body has become a gadget to be upgraded and overhauled. Besides our obsession with thinness, there’s also the rising trend among women to mutilate our bodies in the name of beauty and perfection. Some might argue that today’s woman has more choices to enhance her body and simply takes advantage of these. In addition, our bodies are flawed due to the fallen nature of humanity and in need of fixing. Nevertheless, the application of strategies to enhance is very different from taking actions to recreate or even re-design ones self.
According to a comprehensive survey of U.S. physicians and surgeons by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), women underwent 11.9 million cosmetic procedures in the United States in 2004. They comprised 90% of the total procedures done by men and women. The top surgical procedures carried out by women were: liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, tummy tuck, and facelift.
Furthermore, the fallacy of the beauty standard has become a global phenomenon that has crossed all racial lines. This thanks to the far reach of the powerful North American entertainment and media industries which have also set standards for women all over the world. Consequently, many women believe that their natural ethnic uniqueness is really a mistake of nature. And while many might rightly argue that today there are more famous women of color defying the standards of beauty many of these same women, within their ethnic uniqueness, seek ways to “soften” their ethnicity by chemically “lightening” their hair and skin. While many do this in order to achieve the beauty standard, it is also a political move to maintain a career presence within that standard.
Perhaps this is the most dangerous outcome of the beauty standard- that a woman’s beauty is measured by her proximity to the standard. The result is that women all over the world war against their bodies because they believe this fallacy. To wage this war they must constantly feed their minds, or allow others to feed it, with a negative body image - a distorted perception of their beauty. They must look in the mirror to see ugly and behold defects. They must look at other women and see them as more beautiful, and nurture envious desires to be like them. They must feel ashamed of their own nature. But like every war it is a cycle of destruction that transfers to relationships with self and others.
Women begin to wage this war from the moment we have consciousness of self. Very early on, the seed of inadequacy can be planted within our psyche. This seed is almost always planted by those who belong to our inner circle – those closest to us - and then it is ratified by the outer world.
Perhaps that seed was planted when every time Mommy combed our hair she complained that it was too tough, too unruly, too thick, too dry, too thin, too short - too something. Perhaps it was that aunt who, in passing, compared us to a sister or a cousin, highlighting her nice physical attributes and bemoaning our flaws. Perhaps it was those classmates who teased us day in and day out - mercilessly mocking some aspect of our physical nature. Our thinking pattern was transformed into believing that if we could fix those defects with the right hair, the right nose, the right body- we would then be beautiful. That initial seed of defectiveness, indiscernible to human eye, found abode in our psyche. Once it lodged deep, we then began to pick up all available and affordable arms to wage war against our bodies. Slowly. Silently. Unconsciously.
Norka Blackman-Richards is a member of the National Association of Women Writers. She is a writing instructor, writer, full-time minister’s wife, and a sought-after motivational speaker for women. You may visit her site and subscribe to her FREE newsletter at www.4realwomen.com
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