Are the beauty standards set for today's women healthy?
Beauty standards are changing to a more healthy body image.
Gone is the time where models were all super skinny, horribly unhealthy skeletons. In the past few years there has been a dramatic change in the modeling industry. Now you see women of a healthy size promoting the beauty products. Now women have realistic, and much more healthy models to emulate.
Posted by: elen111No, women today are almost always pressured into being extremely skinny, and that is not healthy.
You see it in magazines and on the television all the time: models looking inordinately skinny and frail. So many celebrities are giving women the impulse to be slim by being skinny themselves. Some people are not built that way, and they will be made to feel ugly if they don't look like these models and celebrities. The beauty standards for women today are terrible because there are so many women suffering from bulimia and anorexia, trying to live up to what they see around them.
Posted by: KitIittI3The beauty standards set for today's women are healthy, because a big part of it is maintaining their weight.
One of the big problems in our society is obesity. One of the key beauty standards is to be physically fit. The importance of this is to teach women the proper way of doing this. It takes a lot of work to properly maintain one's weight, and those who oppose this are the ones who are not willing to work at it properly, or just choose to be lazy about it.
Posted by: eyeslikethat
Women are Objectified in our Society.
The fact that so many girls and women have body issues resulting in conditions such as anorexia and also the millions of women who feel the need to mutilate their bodies by means of plastic surgery speaks for itself. We are bombarded with images where women are merely sexual objects The media needs to stop brainwashing young girls to think that their only value in society is how they look.
Posted by: AnonymousWhen little girls look at the models in fashion magazines.
They see dangerously under weight, hairless, airbrushed, flawless faced women. Every woman's body is different and little girls should be taught that. I have talked to 9 year old girls who are stick thin and they worry their boobs aren't big enough! Or that they aren't thin enough either. We need to start portraying a healthy looking body. And once again tell little girls their curves will come. We need to tell them they are pretty just the way they are.
Posted by: AnonymousI feel like the standards of beauty set for today's women is very unhealthy, because they can sometimes even lead to death.
There is too much pressure on many women to be stick thin in order to be beautiful. That leads to women having eating disorders. There are healthy ways to get thin, such as exercise and a healthy diet, but the pressure makes many women go the unhealthy route, because it seems as if the results will be more immediate. On the flip side, there are many cultures that praise overweight women for having thick and big bodies, and that is also unhealthy, considering obesity can lead to many health problems, including hypertension and diabetes.
Posted by: StevyDemonThe beauty standards that are set for today's women are generally not very healthy.
I do not feel that the women's beauty products of today are very healthy. They have a lot of chemicals that harm the woman's body and also they are not very good for the environment. Many women of today try their best to put on a beautiful face for the public to see, but if they truly knew what they were putting on their face and in their body, they would think twice before trying to be so beautiful.
Posted by: taihenraionThe cosmetics used by women are harmful to health, though they give a good complexion for a short period.
It is true that the cosmetics used by women are helpful in some way or other to hide their age and original complexion to a great extent. But it is also true that most of the cosmetics are made from chemical compounds, which are harmful to our health. They give only a short term beauty. Moreover, the costume set for today's women are also not so attractive as they think themselves. The beauty is determined by the viewer's angle. It is a fact that, as per South Asian people's culture, the modern beauty standards are considered a little vulgar. So I oppose the statement strongly.
Posted by: BurnaCuteNo, I disagree that beauty standards set for today's women are healthy, because all over the magazines and on TV it is made to seem like you're not good enough if you're not super skinny and covered in makeup.
No, I disagree that beauty standards set for today's women are healthy because all over the magazines and on TV it is made to seem like you're not good enough if you're not super skinny and covered in makeup. Lots of women look up to celebrities and think they have to look like them to be "good enough." Lots of women starve themselves and take drastic measures to get a perfect body when in reality they are causing themselves to become sick and unhealthy. Eating disorders are rampant among women because they want to have a hot body like in the magazines. In reality, those pictures are often photo shopped and the celebrities get spray tans and other fake things to make them look pretty. Other things such as botox make it seem like wrinkles and aging are a bad thing, so women are scared to get wrinkles, gain a few pounds and even eat sometimes. The beauty standard is horrible.
Posted by: I33IessThe beauty standards for women are unhealthy and borderline ridiculous.
I suspect that a majority of the models we see on television and in magazines are considered underweight by doctors. Being underweight is unhealthy just like being overweight is and in fact it is more life threatening. Be it from malnourishment or eating disorders, a person can die from not enough food a lot faster than he or she can from too much. Aside from weight concerns, the standards set for women are often unobtainable thanks to photo-shopping and airbrushing.
Posted by: 54ndDaviBeauty standards are impossible to achieve
Today a beautiful woman is described as a tall, slender white woman. The average model is five feet, eleven inches tall, and weighs one hundred and seventeen pounds! Many women can not live up to this standard of "worldly beauty" simply because of their genetics. Models are airbrushed in magazines to look as if they have single toned glowing skin, but what you don't know is those models are anorexic, you can't see their bones because of their airbrushing!! Of course no one is that skinny! It's not healthy!
Posted by: AnonymousBeauty standards sucker in men too.
Even if women completely ignored all of the standards set for them on tv and in magazines, the beauty industry targets men. Men come to expect and only be attracted to women who look a certain way, and become demanding of this unrealistic idea of beauty. The porn industry is so successful because men don't realize that people do not look like that in real life and that with their expectations so high, they will never achieve the porn-star-lookalike girlfriend that they want. Women, in the end, to attract men, are forced to conform to society's liking.
Posted by: AnonymousToday's beauty standards set for women are unhealthy, since they promote starvation and plastic surgery.
Women today are expected to be super skinny and to have large breasts. This combination is highly unhealthy and unnatural. To be skinny, women have to starve, and this leads to many serious health problems, such as loss of bone density, poor digestion, cancer, and premature aging. The demand for larger breasts encourage women to seek plastic surgery, which always represents a health risk, and adds pressure on an already fragile skeleton.
Posted by: NWintersBeauty standards for women are too much.
The image of beauty in our country is damaging. Women are shown images of ideal women that are nearly impossible to attain. Women suffer from attempting to attain these goals. This results in bulimia and anorexia being common, especially in younger women. Women would be better suited by having ideals that are closer to reality, with fuller figures, etc. Women make themselves sick trying to achieve these supposed ideals.
Posted by: R43ShepNo!
That's why we have all these eating disorders, and suicidle female teens.
Posted by: sculmer2I disagree that the beauty standards set for today's women are healthy, because teenagers are getting cosmetic surgery and eating disorders more than ever before.
Beauty standards are so damaging today, because models make up such a minuscule percentage of the population, but yet the rest of us are striving to be just like them. Even the models aren't as beautiful or thin as they are portrayed, due to airbrushing and photo retouching. Some young women today are developing horrible eating habits in an effort to be rail thin. Others are seeking plastic surgery before their bodies have even had a chance to reach full maturity. And, others who cannot afford surgery or who cannot seem to maintain a healthy weight, much less a super thin frame, are becoming depressed and suicidal. Women today need healthier role models and would benefit from a society that values intelligence, integrity and humanity, over physical beauty and sexual prowess.
Posted by: N3vinFaceI don't believe that the beauty standards that are set for today's women are healthy.
Obsession about image and looks have driven many women to insecurity and depressions. Anytime their perception of themselves does not match their own expectation, they have to face the inner personal conflict that is not only unnecessary but also can be very strenuous to their overall well being. This is evident in the increase of the heart disease and suicide rate among women.
Posted by: BurM4rkIt is stupid
Societal beauty expectations are making women hate themselves because the look that the media and society are saying is beautiful is an impossible appearance and an individual will end up hating themselves because they end up failing. Women and teenagers go to extreme lengths to look a certain way and end up wasting time, and money.
Posted by: AnonymousModern beauty standards for women are destructive to the bodies and minds of females, as well as destructive to the environment.
The emphasis on thin figures, hairless bodies and ageless faces has become a destructive force to both human beings and the earth's environment. Studies have shown that even elementary school children have become concerned about being too fat, which has led to an increase in eating disorders. The multi-billion dollar beauty industry continues to churn out products that have an impact on the environment, with all the packaging, chemicals and trash. Lastly, the perpetuation of the idea that one's looks are of primary importance leaves women feeling worthless and dedicating their time, energy and financial resources to a hopeless campaign against time, rather than to issues that might improve the quality of their lives.
Posted by: P3nrIinThe standards for women are very chemical-dependent, which is not good for anyone.
Women are expected to deny nature, which is not a good way to live - nature will eventually have its way no matter how you try to dye it or plump it away. This denial often comes in the form of chemical "treatments" which are harmful to women's' bodies and to the environment (when they & their containers progress through the waste system). Even the beauty trends that are not chemical can be harmful, like tanning under UV lights that cause cancer, or trying to maintain an unhealthily low weight or BMI to match some celebrity.
Posted by: Qu3yNeaHow am I supposed to be that?
Every day I'm pressured by pictures of Victoria's Secret models and Super Skinny Stars. I got called fat 3 times in a week. I know I am not skinny, but I am average. Girls, myself and others, shouldn't be expected to weigh in at 110 pounds and have big boobs and a nice butt. When people judge me on how I look physically, I ask them what right they have to say that I am fat. Who are they to judge people on how they look?
Posted by: AnonymousGirls are expected to be anorexic.
The women in ads are unrealistically skinny and all have perfect skin. That is not natural and women are expected to wear makeup in order to "look acceptable", and what is that saying to us? That we look ugly, and we need to cover our faces with goop? I think we need to set realistic standards for beauty, because it has gone too far already.
Posted by: AnonymousNo, the beauty standards set for today's women are not healthy at all, as they promote an unhealthy body image.
Two of the biggest offenders of today's beauty standards for women are weight and sexism. Women are supposed to be skinny (according to Photoshopped fashion adverts and women's mags, inhumanly-thin), hairless, small-nosed, large-chested, pale-skinned, long-legged, large-lipped goddesses. A woman like Sarah Jessica Parker is ugly because of her large nose, but Tom Cruise's giant nose is overlooked. Fat men in sitcoms and movies are only married to slim, large-breasted women (such as the sitcom King of Queens or the movie Couples Retreat). The worst part is that women buy into this, and starve themselves into an early, bulimic grave. It will not change unless both men and women reject these so-called "standards", but as large groups of people are essentially zombie-fodder for advertising, it'll never happen.
Posted by: R053NeddyThe real beauty has a definite charm & grace that does not need any criteria. Today's women apply heavy makeup to look beautiful.
We can see a before and after effect for a woman without makeup & a woman with makeup. I personally feel that applying makeup is covering the face & it is a sort of cheating. Means they are trying to hide their ugliness.
Posted by: M FernandezSociety has very unhealthy standards for women and that is clear when you look at models.
In earlier days it was considered desirable for women to be a bit more curvy. That is obvious when you look at women like Marilyn Monroe, who was clearly not a stick figure. When looking at today's women on television and other media, you see thinner women being displayed much more often than larger ones.
Posted by: 54nShaIUnhealthy sexualized stereotyping.
Females are persuaded on a daily basis, that they need to conform with media generated images of females which are generally sexualized and frequently infantilize young women. This is dangerous as it blurs the boundaries between child and adult. Some females feel the need to undergo invasive cosmetic procedures in order to achieve the unrealistic notions of what 'natural' female beauty is.
On the other hand, there are those females who become anorexic/bulimic in an attempt to feel socially accepted and worthy of male attention. It is a truly tragic situation and I hope that there will soon be an end to the stereotypical and airbrushed images of females and males in the media. Pornographic or heavily sexualized images really ought to be available only from secure websites/TV channels (pay to view) or licensed sex shops with proof of identity required. This would protect vulnerable and impressionable children of all ages and both genders having unrealistic notions of what is desirable. It's the 21st century - isn't it time to start celebrating real achievements, and stop glamorizing those who strip off clothes to reveal boobs or abs!Posted by: Anonymous