Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person’s physical features are aesthetically ethereal and beautiful. Some physical features are attractive in both men and women, particularly body and facial features. But it has been found that overall the beauty industry has a negative effect on humans self-esteem, body image and the expectation of beauty.

Standards of beauty can be determined by cultures and the offspring of a parent. “DNA determines things such as your eye color, hair color, height, and even the size of your nose” DNA Determines Your Appearance! | Center for Nanoscale Science (psu.edu). These genes come directly from your father or mother. For example, we can identify parts of your genes that determine if you get them from your father or mother;  such as your nose, mouth, eyebrows, eyes, weight, height, etc. 

Beauty standards have changed over many years. Today’s beauty standards are people who are expected to wear makeup in their daily lives, work out at the gym, stay skinny with curves in the right places, etc. To be more specific beauty standards examples are Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. Some characteristics features that make a woman beautiful are fuller lips, dark eyebrows, higher cheekbones, longer and darker eyelashes, less fat, etc.

When you hear the word beauty standard, you might think about a woman instead of a man. Mens beauty standards are more of an athletic body, good posture, broad shoulders, narrow hips and strong muscles. Characteristics for mens beauty standards are browner skin, narrower facial shape, less fat, fuller and more symmetrical lips, darker eyebrows, more and darker lashes, upper half of the face broader in relation to the lower, and higher cheekbones.

Botox, Lip filler, and plastic surgery are things people do to themselves to make them look better, feel better, etc. Botox is used to reduce or temporarily eliminate lines and wrinkles on your face, including the lip area. Lip fillers are used because they want to smooth out their lips and get more fullness. They can also want to look younger and more beautiful, so they want to erase a few lines and achieve some youthful plumpness. Plastic surgery can be used to look younger and more attractive.

 Although some people do these things because they have to. For example, guys with a condition called gynecomastia (excess breast tissue) that doesn’t go away with time or weight loss may opt for reduction surgery (plastic surgery), or botox can be used to treat conditions such as neck spasms (cervical dystonia), excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis), an overactive bladder and lazy eye. Botox injections may also help prevent chronic migraines.

“Women look around and see expectations of what to look like everywhere around them. This can lead to mental health issues and other issues. It can also cause women to try to change themselves to fit society’s image.”(The toxicity of beauty standards – The Catalystmillardwestcatalyst.com › opinion › the-toxicity-of-beauty…)

Beauty standards do have pros and cons. Although body image concerns are not a mental health condition in themselves, they can be a risk factor for mental health problems such as poorer quality of life, psychological distress, and unhealthy behaviours including eating disorders. Some people tend to carry stress, anxiety, and starve themselves to get the perfect looking body and face. 

Gaining stress from beauty standards is an example of looking into the mirror and telling yourself that you’re ugly, that you aren’t good enough which can lead to starving yourself. Weight starvation causes individuals to lose significant amounts of lean muscle mass and Lean Body Mass, which encompasses water, bones, organs, etc. Reducing the mass of your bones is problematic, as that decreases bone density and can make you more prone to injury. 

While it might seem shocking, you need to eat to lose weight. Starving yourself won’t make you lose weight, you should eat healthier foods and lower eating foods that have sodium and sugar. Eat healthy meals throughout the day, workout, drink lots of water and you will lose the weight that you are desired to lose. 

In conclusion, beauty standards can affect your mental health by causing stress, depression, bad thoughts, and other mental health issues. You can also learn that male beauty standards exist today and how things have changed from back then.

Always remember you don’t need to change your appearance for others, everyone is beautiful in their own way.
“ It all starts with you, If you don’t love you, nobody else is going to be able to”― Ashley Graham (World Famous Supermodel)

Zahra Chehade

8th grade Journalism