Stop making us hate ourselves
The burden of Australian beauty standards
You have to be skinny but not too skinny.
Big bum and a tiny waist.
It’s totally forbidden to have fat arms, especially not flappy triceps.
Legs? They have to be toned but not huge, otherwise finding denim jeans in Australia will be impossible.
Get your supplements for healthy hair and fill your hairdressers’s pockets with hundreds of dollars.
Can’t forget the morning and night skincare routine.
Why don’t you try hyaluronic acid to have big juicy lips?
Have you heard about the BBL surgery?
Also, no wrinkles allowed honey.
Laser hair removal is a MUST.
Big bums? That’s not in anymore.
Get on a strict diet.
Go for a run. No, go for a walk.
Sign up for crossfit classes. Add boxing a few times a week. Spinning. Pilates. Swimming. Weight lifting.
Love yourself. Hate yourself.
***
The first few months after I moved to Australia I discovered an activity I utterly enjoyed: people-watching. Everything was different and I thought everyone was so incredibly beautiful. It was fascinating and I was particularly amazed by how much some Aussies look after their physical appearance.
The astonishment lasted until the strings behind the puppet became apparent: that perfection -or the weight of having to reach that perfection- had a very large cost.
“I see beauty standards having a major impact in Australian Society”, says the psychologist Kim Clancy. And continues: “Someone's self esteem, which is the view of the overall self, is often hit hard with unrealistic expectations being fed from advertising, influencers, social media, movies and businesses. It can change how someone sees themselves and their abilities, capabilities, what they look like and how they behave. Can reduce their sense of worth and the respect they hold for themselves”.
Unrealistic is a precise adjective to describe these standards, which are often based on the looks they export on social media. Famous people and influencers on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. establish what is trendy and what is not. But what comes into question is, do these extremely good-looking people really look in real life the way they do on their posts?
When Instagram and Snaphat added their filters the woke part of the audience anticipated what was coming: filters were -are- not more than socially accepted photoshop.
When we ask Dr. Clancy what is the negative side of living a life dictated by these expectations, she says: “Not sure there is a positive” and adds: “It can impact all facets of the human experience. Emotionally, financially, psychologically and physically/medically”.
In regards to mental health, Dr. Clancy mentions that these unachievable beauty standards can lead into “anxiety, stress and depression” and also “further complex mental health concerns such as eating disorders, self harm and suicidality”.
Nowadays, being comfortable
with our own body is disruptive.
The next milestone is keeping ourselves educated so brands, propaganda, advertisement and social media would not even have a pinch of influence on the way we see ourselves.
The world is slowly moving forward, but it seems like Australia is still stagnant on this matter with only a few brands that do not use women, that in spanish we would call, “hegémonicas” (hegemonic). This hegemonic beauty reproduces the idea that the beautiful, desirable and valuable bodies respond to a single model: blond, white, skinny. Any other body that doesn’t assimilate to that model - or doesn’t show that it wants to get closer to it- is judged and repudiated.
If power is in the hands of the consumers, then the solution is easier than what we think: let’s only consume brands that fit any gender, size and body type. And above all, brands that hire a variety of models who would represent the wide diversity of reality itself, so that we can all feel included.
