The standards and expectations men set on women are unbearable. Men are now looking for women with a slim waist and a curvy body, an infallible face, and flawless skin tone. Flawless skin tone means no bumps, no pimples, no scars, no scratches, or nothing containing any damage of the skin. Because of this, women are pressured into being part of a facade that involves perfection, which isn't obtainable. But if men are looking for perfection, how can it be met? Photo-shop. Photo-shop can make someone that is 180 pounds look 90 pounds in 5 minutes. Photoshop can erase all of the pimples and scars a person has, photo-shop can change the structure of a person face, body structure, and more features, and most importantly, photo-shop can change a person's individuality. Women are losing a sense of identity when using these filters and photo-shop. They are afraid of being themselves because of scrutiny and non-acceptance for who they are. Filters are just as worse. Filters can change a person's entire complexion.
This is unacceptable. But women are not only using filters and photo-shop for men, they are also using these methods for other women as well. Females judge other females for minor features; for example, nails, hair, picture poses, clothes, shoes, and more other aesthetics. If a female is lacking in one of these features, it is easy for the female to become mocked since she is not conforming to men's and women's expectations. That is why an average female try so hard to take the right picture, find the right outfit, and pose the best way to prevent ridicule. They are looking for acceptance. However, by doing so, women are not being themselves. So, filters and photo-shop are mentally degrading women since it is embedded in making a female look better. It is quite rare to find a picture of a female without filters and photo-shop since it is ingrained in our society to apply these methods to enhance beauty.
Wouldn't you feel belittled if someone ostracized you for the way you look? That is why females attempt to use filters to prevent negative criticism. Consequently, by applying these filters, it is not YOU! You are pretending to be someone you not! Females lost self value. They forgot what natural beauty is because social media is very deceitful on persuading females their perspective of beauty. Social media is fictitious when defining beauty. Their definition of beauty is completely degrading of women. However, females are completely oblivious and not aware of how spurious social media is. Its upsetting. How can we create a solution if people do not even know that a problem exists?
Very strong blog and topic. I LOVE IT! Suggestion: look at the history of why women pose as they do and the reason for it. Unfortunately this is not a new thing for this era. it dates bake all the way to the ancient times and when they were taught how to be a woman by male fantasies, after all this is a man's world right? So if you need a few topics to get on with your blog i would suggest you look at the history of posing as well as the way we look at the "normality" of these things that we do that are so unnatural.
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was really interesting and I completely agree. This is an unfortunate trend that affects so many girls in our society today. Having two sisters and a girlfriend that I care about a lot, I think it is really sad that women feel this pressure to change their appearance on social media. However, I am not sure if I agree with the part in which you say that women are oblivious. I'm sure that some girls do not fully understand how changing their appearance is degrading. But, I believe that a good amount of females know this and dislike it but feel like they do not have much of a choice because that is what every other girl does.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is SUCH a relevant topic in today's culture and you did a really great job pinpointing exactly what the problem is. I also really like your reasoning behind writing this blog; it's really touching that you were inspired by your mother in an attempt to make her realize that her own beauty is enough. My only criticism is that I would avoid overgeneralizations. One example of this is you say that "females lost self value." I don't think that this is necessarily true for ALL females, but maybe just the ones who feel that they need to photo-shop their pictures (trust me, it's not all of us!).
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on so many points.It is hard growing up being a female, in such a demoralizing environment where everything it seems,is based solely on looks.I know from many personal experiences especially in my friend group where they make statements of wanting to look exactly like the model on the cover, though it is totally unrealistic.You seem to have a lot of personal experience with this topic as well as you said your mother dealt with some of these issues.Great post and i will definitely continue reading it.
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