unrealistic beauty standards on social media essay

Social Media

Social media and unrealistic beauty ideals, are social media algorithms perpetuating the beauty ideal.

Posted January 29, 2024 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

• People feel a lack of control over their social media use.
• Even if we do not engage with beauty content, algorithms still show us ideal beauty images.
• We need to reflect on why we are so obsessed with the beauty ideal in the first place.

Cowritten by Heather Widdows and Jessica Sutherland, University of Warwick

How often do you find you’ve lost an hour passively scrolling through social media? You only sat down for a moment, to take a break, and suddenly half the morning has gone. We scroll almost everywhere, on the sofa, lying in bed, on the bus, waiting for a bus, or, when we can get away with it, in boring work meetings or classes. A recent analysis of findings from the Millennium Cohort Study 2019 shows that nearly half of British 17-year-olds (48 percent; n=7022) feel addicted to social media. Girls reported feeling like this (57 percent) far more than boys (37 percent). This is not an accident; to work, social media must eat our attention . Social media is designed to keep us scrolling. Whether it is addictive in the clinical sense is up for debate, but what is clear is that people feel a lack of control over their social media use.

The effects of this out-of-control use are worrying. The Millennium Cohort Study finds that, amongst 14-year-olds, “greater social media use related to online harassment, poor sleep, low self-esteem and poor body image ; in turn these related to higher depressive symptom scores.” 1 This is a pretty extensive list of harms, especially if you take seriously the harms of body image dissatisfaction . The evidence shows that it’s not just teens who are affected. In a study of the relationship between social media addiction and body dissatisfaction, it was found that undergraduate women who had more symptoms of social media addiction were more aware of appearance pressure and more likely to internalise the beauty ideal. 2

With online culture becoming ever-increasingly visual (think Snapchat, TikTok, BeReal, and Instagram) rather than text-based, we are barraged with images and videos of other people and feel the demands to participate by sharing our own selfies and videos. Using social media in these image-based ways can be particularly problematic .

Social media relies on our undivided attention. It works by keeping us scrolling, liking, commenting, and comparing ourselves to others. Much has already been written about the unrealistic beauty and lifestyle standards perpetuated on social media, in part because we only ever put our "best selves" online. Whilst unrealistic beauty standards in media are nothing new, the amount of images and the time we spend looking at them is. We now spend an average of 2 and ½ hours on social media every day—and some recent not yet published studies suggest this is a low estimate.

Our attention has become a valuable commodity, and social media platforms are working hard to maximise their market share. Gone are the days when social media posts are ordered chronologically; AI -assisted algorithms curate and manage our feeds to maximise attention. The algorithms aim to keep us glued to the screen as long as possible; the algorithms sort and target information into our personal feeds by analysing our likes, comments, and shares. The more we look at certain types of images and videos, the more the algorithm delivers similar content back to us. This creates a filter bubble, an echo chamber where we see more and more similar content. Often in the case of young women, the content we receive is of idealised faces and bodies—the Instagram face, the plastically firm Barbie body, If we ever look at a beauty post, or engage with beauty content, very soon we will be bombarded with posts which promote an unachievable beauty ideal.

Even if we do not personally engage with beauty content, social media algorithms still routinely serve up ideal beauty images because this kind of content is generally popular. It is almost impossible to avoid consuming beauty content in the visual world—give it a try and see how successful you are.

But we can’t only blame the social media algorithms for perpetuating the beauty ideal. We have written previously about what the "ideal" body type on social media looks like, how this tracks onto the features of the global beauty ideal (thin, firm, smooth, and young), and what this shows us about our aspirations to be impossibly perfect. 3 Whilst the algorithms’ sole aim is to keep us scrolling, they give us beauty content because we’ve voted with our fingers and thumbs; this is the content we want to see. To tackle the harms of social media and its effects on our body image, we need to reflect on why we are so obsessed with the beauty ideal in the first place. Sure, social media algorithms are exacerbating the problem, but as yet they respond to human desires, desires they commodify and exacerbate, but not desires they create.

1. Kelly, Y., Zilanawala, A., Booker, C., & Sacker, A. (2018). Social media use and adolescent mental health: Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. EClinicalMedicine , 6 , 59–68.

2. Delgado-Rodríguez, R., Linares, R., & Moreno-Padilla, M. (2022). Social network addiction symptoms and body dissatisfaction in young women: exploring the mediating role of awareness of appearance pressure and internalization of the thin ideal. Journal of Eating Disorders , 10 (1), 1–11.

3. Widdows, H. (2018) Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal, Princeton University Press, p.23.

Storm Newton. Almost half of teenagers feel addicted to social media – study . Independent. January 3, 2024.

Hannah Devlin. Revealed: almost half of British teens feel addicted to social media, study says. Guardian. January 2, 2024.

Filippo Menczer. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified that the company’s algorithms are dangerous – here’s how they can manipulate you . The Conversation. October 7, 2021.

Jia Tolentino. The Age of Instagram Face . The New Yorker. December 12, 2019.

Heather Widdows, Ph.D. , is a professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick and the author of Perfect Me.

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The Filter Effect: What Does Comparing Our Bodies on Social Media Do to Our Health?

By Sarah Gabriele

Filters on social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok are great to take silly pictures alone and with friends, and they often give us a good laugh. However, as Dr. Christine Stabler from Penn Medicine writes , they also create an illusion, a perfection that we struggle to live up to every day. This is the case even if almost everyone is well aware that pictures are filtered and carefully selected, and that pictures do not always represent reality.

The use of social media does appear to be correlated to body image concerns and low-self esteem . A systematic review published in 2016 highlighted that photo-based activity on social media was linked to negative body image. In analyzing the roots of negative thoughts, studies have further shown that the activity of comparing ourselves is really what is detrimental to our own mental health. For example, researchers have found  a positive relationship between Facebook usage and body image concerns , and, in particular, young women who spent more time on Facebook felt more concerned about their bodies. This study showed that these negative effects occur mostly because of the social comparison that users make to others. This problem is particularly amplified when it comes to women, highlighting that the danger of social media and the standard of beauty are gender-specific, as women are subjected to physical ideals more than men, and feel pressured to look a certain way.

Lately, I have been reading My Body by Emily Ratajkowski, where she does a beautiful job of describing what constantly comparing her body did to herself. In one essay, she describes what it means to be raised by a mother who is fixated on her beauty and who is constantly comparing her daughter to herself or to others. The book talks about much more as the author writes about how her own appearance has shaped her relationships, career, and psyche.

Comparing one’s body is also a constant problem in eating disorders. A recent study demonstrated  that participants were less satisfied with their bodies following upward comparison — a term used to describe a comparison to a person perceived by the subject as better-looking than theirself. However, the mere act of comparing seems detrimental — both upward and downward comparisons were associated with lower body satisfaction and increased anxiety.

Going back to social media, these platforms are especially well-suited to make users compare themselves, by constantly showing pictures of others, in almost perfect form. This is not something new: studies in the early 2000s had already shown how mass media transmits sociocultural symbols that are unrealistic and unachievable for most users, especially women. This, however, has become even more true as the ability to change our body has become as easy as using a filter. Another, more recent study has further suggested that greater intensity of social media use was associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in social media comparison. This scenario is even more frightening if we consider the business model of social media companies, which often monetize the anxiety of their users .

This leaves me with the question of what we can do to free ourselves from the negative health effects of social comparison. One solution could be to transform this comparison into a positive stimulus. In this respect, we could use the comparison as a positive driver as we feel inspired by someone’s life and attitude. For example, in sports, it has been shown that moderate comparison could lead to greater motivation (though extreme upward comparison resulted in reduced motivation). However, the comparison of physical traits and body features might not be as easy, especially as we often have subconsciously interiorized society’s beauty standards, making the comparison unhealthy from the beginning.

Users of social media should be aware of the negative health effects of internalized beauty standards. In this sense, it is important to highlight how our internalized beauty standards often lead us to compare ourselves in everyday life, and to learn how to control the impact on our own mental health and behavior. At the same time, influencers on social media should become aware that followers do not merely follow them, they also compare themselves to them. Finally, we should hold social media companies responsible and require structural changes in the ways that content is displayed and beauty standards are portrayed.

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Sarah Gabriele

Sarah Gabriele is a second-year Master of Bioethics candidate at Harvard Medical School. She obtained her law degree from the University of Trento (Italy) and an LL.M. from the Washington University in St. Louis. After graduating from law school, she worked at Hogan Lovells in their Milan office, specializing in pharmaceutical patent litigation. Currently, she is a student fellow with the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and a research specialist at PORTAL, in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

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When beauty causes harm

New podcast from students and faculty examines how toxic beauty products and unrealistic beauty expectations have led to injustices

December 21, 2022 – Maintaining society’s expected beauty standards can come at a high cost—financially, health-wise, and personally—and those costs fall most often on marginalized groups, according to a new podcast from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Beauty + Justice looks at the history and context surrounding beauty injustices, the potential impacts on health—from asthma to early menstruation to breast cancer —and the sometimes painful emotional toll of trying to attain a certain beauty standard. The podcast features guests from health care, academia, nonprofits, and clean beauty businesses to discuss, as student host Lissah Johnson says in the series trailer, “what it will take to create a more clean and equitable future of beauty for everyone.” Launched in November, there were three episodes as of mid-December, with plans for about 10 more in the coming months.

The podcast team includes Johnson, a doctoral candidate in the Biological Sciences in Public Health program who works in the lab of Kristopher Sarosiek studying how cell death gets dysregulated in ovarian cancer; Marissa Chan , a doctoral candidate in the Department of Environmental Health studying community- and neighborhood-level drivers of hair product use among Black women ; and Tamarra James-Todd , Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental Reproductive Epidemiology and director of the Environmental Reproductive Justice Lab .

The idea for a podcast grew out of a desire to translate research results in a way that’s useful for people and policymakers. “There’s a lot of talk about environmental justice and health equity, but we actually need to get the science into the hands of the community members who are most impacted, and also those who are in power and who can affect change,” said James-Todd.

The podcast, she added, highlights the connection between racism and how beauty products are marketed, sold, and used. “The cost isn’t just our health,” she said. “It’s also an economic cost. People of color are paying more money—a ridiculously high amount—to try to achieve Eurocentric beauty standards. Basically, we are paying more money to make ourselves sicker.”

Experts featured in the podcast series delve into various aspects of beauty injustice. Guests have included Lori Tharps, an author, storyteller, and educator best known for a book she co-authored titled “ Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America ”; Tamara Gilkes Borr, U.S. policy correspondent at The Economist, who wrote a May 2021 article about some of the hidden costs of having and maintaining Black hair; Robin Dodson, associate director of research operations and a research scientist at the Silent Spring Institute; and Blair Wylie, director of obstetrics for the 1 st region Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit and founding director of The Collaborative for Women’s Environmental Health in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. An episode planned for spring 2023 will explore the role of big business in beauty justice with Boma Brown-West, former director of EDF+Business for the Environmental Defense Fund and currently chief growth officer at the Healthy Building Network.

A tool for ‘othering’

In the series trailer, Johnson says, “The fact is beauty is not harmless, nor frivolous, or only skin deep. It’s also a source of toxic environmental exposures and a tool for othering and excluding specific groups of people.”

The episode featuring Dodson focused on the types of chemicals people are exposed to from beauty products and ways to prevent those exposures. Dodson has been involved in research that has shown that most women use products with fragrance—which can have hundreds of different kinds of chemicals —and she recommended that people choose fragrance-free products instead. Other chemicals to watch out for, she said, include phthalates, parabens, and UV filters such as benzophenone-3, which are endocrine disruptors that affect people’s hormonal systems. She also noted that levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals tend to be higher in products marketed toward and used by Black women than in products for white women.

“The majority of people do not realize that chemicals do not need to be comprehensively evaluated for safety before they are used in products that you would use every day,” said Dodson. “I think people should … start making noise and calling as much attention as we can to these issues so that things will start to change.” She suggested speaking out in support of increased transparency around products, or calling your favorite brand to complain about unsafe ingredients.

Borr discussed the social consequences of being perceived as less beautiful. For instance, she noted, a 2020 study “found that Black women with natural hair, with curly hair, were perceived as less professional and less competent than Black women with straight hair and White women with curly or straight hair.”

And while many women spend a lot of money to have their appearance meet social standards, Black women face even greater hurdles. “Black women buy nine times more products than white women do,” Borr said, noting that the Black hair industry generated $2.5 billion in revenue in 2017. “And you also have to think about the fact that women make less money than men, and on top of that, Black women make much less money than White women do, and they’re spending so much more money to show up and go to work, to have their hair be appropriate for work, for that job. It’s really mind-boggling and kind of twisted when you really think about it.”

Chan said she found the episode featuring Borr very powerful. “She highlighted … that we’re not at the point yet where Black women or Black folks can just walk out the door without considering the impact of institutional and interpersonal racism as it relates to their appearance and Eurocentric beauty standards,” she said. Johnson agreed, noting that the episode made her think about how much time it takes to get ready to leave the house “in order to not get negative comments.” She talked about what Black women call “wash day”—the whole day it takes to wash, detangle, and treat your hair. “You miss out on time for so many other things, like being with friends and family,” she said. “And as a PhD student, I don’t have seven hours to spend every week making my hair in its natural state appear in line with those Eurocentric standards of beauty and professionalism.”

James-Todd spoke of her own struggles regarding her hair. At times, she said, she has worried about wearing her hair in a natural style. “I recognize that there are perceptions of what it looks like to be a Black woman wearing your hair in its natural state, one of which is to be perceived as being militant, or being perceived as not being particularly attractive,” she said. “And that has implications for whether or not I’m taken seriously.”

Borr said that one way to move the needle on societal standards surrounding Black hair is legislation prohibiting discrimination based on someone’s hair texture and hairstyle. In September, Alaska became the 19 th state to pass such legislation, known as the CROWN (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act. Media images of women with natural Black hair can also help, she said.

Learning experience

For Chan, working on the podcast highlighted the importance of framing research toward solutions. “I think a lot of times in environmental justice and environmental health there’s a tendency to document disparities or differences in product use, which is important. But it’s also important to ask: What can people do about it, and what is the path forward in terms of achieving beauty justice? We’re really emphasizing that point through the podcast.”

Johnson, a bench scientist, said that the podcast has taught her how to be a better science communicator. “I’m a basic scientist. I’m really steeped in using technical language and scientific jargon,” she said. “But why I care about what I study are how the people of a community are affected. So really being able to explain … to a diverse audience about research [regarding beauty injustices] has been really helpful and really powerful. It’s making me more of the scientist that I want to be.”

– Karen Feldscher

Photo courtesy Tamarra James-Todd

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Social Media, Thin-Ideal, Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating Attitudes: An Exploratory Analysis

Pilar aparicio-martinez.

1 Departamento de Enfermería, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Menéndez Pidal, 1470 Córdoba, Spain

2 Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UK

3 Grupo Investigación epidemiológica en Atención primaria (GC-12) del Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, 14071 Córdoba, Spain; se.ocu@oreuqavm

Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno

4 Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Córdoba, ceiA3, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Córdoba, Spain; se.ocu@aerepa (A.-J.P.-M.); se.ocu@pijam1af (M.P.M.-J.)

María Pilar Martinez-Jimenez

María dolores redel-macías.

5 Departamento Ingeniería Rural, Ed Leonardo da Vinci, Campus de Rabanales, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario, ceiA3, 1470 Cordoba, Spain; se.ocu@lederdm

Claudia Pagliari

6 eHealth Research Group, Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UK; [email protected]

Manuel Vaquero-Abellan

Disordered eating attitudes are rapidly increasing, especially among young women in their twenties. These disordered behaviours result from the interaction of several factors, including beauty ideals. A significant factor is social media, by which the unrealistic beauty ideals are popularized and may lead to these behaviours. The objectives of this study were, first, to determine the relationship between disordered eating behaviours among female university students and sociocultural factors, such as the use of social network sites, beauty ideals, body satisfaction, body image and the body image desired to achieve and, second, to determine whether there is a sensitive relationship between disordered eating attitudes, addiction to social networks, and testosterone levels as a biological factor. The data ( N = 168) was obtained using validated surveys (EAT-26, BSQ, CIPE-a, SNSA) and indirect measures of prenatal testosterone. The data was analysed using chi-square, Student’s t-test, correlation tests and logistic regression tests. The results showed that disordered eating attitudes were linked to self-esteem ( p < 0.001), body image ( p < 0.001), body desired to achieve ( p < 0.001), the use of social media ( p < 0.001) and prenatal testosterone ( p < 0.01). The findings presented in this study suggest a relationship between body image, body concerns, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating attitudes among college women.

1. Introduction

Mental health problems have increased, especially among young people, over the last decade [ 1 ]. The most common mental problems are behavioural, emotional, and hyperkinetic disorders. Among these illnesses, disordered eating behaviours are rapidly increasing in a short time, especially among young women [ 2 , 3 ]. These disordered attitudes are defined as afflictions in which people suffer severe disruption in their eating behaviours, thoughts and emotions. The people who suffer from these complaints are usually preoccupied with food and weight. In this sense, disordered eating is used to describe a range of irregular eating behaviours that may or may not warrant a diagnosis of a specific disordered eating attitude [ 4 ].

These disorders usually occur in women in their twenties or during adolescence [ 3 ]. People who suffer these disorders usually present altered attitudes, behaviours, weight perception and physical appearance [ 5 ]. Moreover, disordered eating behaviours or attitudes are defined as unhealthy or maladaptive eating behaviours, such as restricting or binging and/or purging [ 6 ]. These behaviours are not categorized as an eating disorder, though they are considered a phase of diagnosed eating disorders [ 7 ].

The concern from health care systems is based on the fact that these severe mental disorders usually puts in danger the well-being and health of the people who suffer them [ 5 ]. One-third of the women in the world have suffered from these mental problems at some point in their life [ 6 ]. If they are inadequately treated, they may develop severe clinical disorders [ 8 ]. Moreover, around 1% of the people with these disordered eating attitudes struggle with unhealthy and emotional problems through all their lives [ 6 ].

Out of the population with disordered eating attitudes, 16% of them present overeating, 20% purged by vomiting, and 61% food restraining [ 9 ]. These frequencies changed as people aged, with food restriction being more common in older women and vomiting during adolescence [ 10 ]. Moreover, recent data have discussed the increase of how the minimum age of the people with disorders is around 12 years of age and decreasing. Meanwhile, the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes appears to increase as young adults or adolescents grow older [ 10 ].

Although these diseases have a crucial psychobiological component, social and cultural factors have a significant influence. Among these factors, advertising has been described as an internalizing or normalizing means to spread unrealistic beauty ideals. Therefore, a higher incidence of these diseases is presented in advanced and modern societies and people with the best living conditions, mostly caused by the popularization of thin and muscular ideals [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].

Several biological factors have been linked to disordered eating attitudes, with up to 50% of disordered eating being described as familiarly transmitted [ 5 , 14 ]. Researchers have also suggested that neurotransmitters in the brain are involved in disordered eating attitudes and, therefore, eating disorders [ 15 , 16 ]. Additionally, the hormones have been linked as factors to puberty, body perception and body concerns [ 17 , 18 ]. Testosterone is included among those hormones highly studied, with blood samples providing a more precise method of examination. Nevertheless, different researchers pointed out the possibility of using indirect markers to avoid taking biological samples and creating risks for the participants. In this sense, most studies have linked testosterone and estrogenic levels via the 2D:4D digital ratio as an indirect indicator [ 19 ], which heavily dictates attractiveness [ 17 ]. This ratio, which is based on the difference in length of the phalanges of the hands (2D:4D ratio) having a lower ratio as an indicator of the existence of a higher level of testosterone, is used for the determination of intrauterine testosterone levels during gestation [ 20 ]. This ratio has reflected the relationship with self-perception, body image, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating behaviours [ 20 , 21 ]. Based on these studies, the hormone levels, and the indirect marker, might appear to have essential roles in disordered eating attitudes [ 22 ]. Nevertheless, other authors have described how biological or genetic factors are essential, but may not determine, these disordered eating attitudes [ 23 ].

Other factors, such as ethical or familiar factors, contribute to the development of this disordered eating behaviours [ 24 ]. In this sense, previous studies have established that the probability of developing a disordered eating attitude or a diagnosis of eating disorders is higher if the mother had a disordered eating or self-esteem problems [ 25 , 26 ]. Moreover, ethnicity has been linked to the perception of beauty ideals, self-esteem and body perception [ 27 , 28 ].

Another critical factor is the media by which beauty ideals have been promoted. The media plays a vital role in formulating what is attractive in society, increasing the thin beauty ideal among females being unattainable [ 29 , 30 ]. These ideals confirmed the way young people perceived themselves and, therefore, how they value themselves [ 10 , 31 ]. This contradiction between what society portrays as a role model and the real body that many young women have has resulted in body concerns. Body concerns usually maintain over time and increase body dissatisfaction. This body dissatisfaction emerges because of the distortion on the body image, its perception and, therefore, body concern [ 32 , 33 ]. This dissatisfaction also plays an essential role in disordered eating attitudes since it provokes emotional and psychological distress [ 34 ].

In this sense, the theory of social comparison and numerous studies have studied the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitudes to better understand the causes of these illnesses. These previous works showed that real comparisons with other people leads to a distortion of body image and may favour disorderly feeding [ 11 , 29 , 35 ]. Additionally, Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) suggested that sexualization and self-objectification promoted via media should be considered as a risk factor for disordered eating attitudes [ 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Based on previous and recent studies it seems that the role of the media in disordered eating attitudes is noteworthy [ 1 , 11 , 39 ].

This paper presents a research study in which these objectives have been pursued: first, to determine the relationship between disordered eating attitudes in female university students and sociocultural factors, such as the use of social network sites, beauty ideals, body satisfaction, the body image and the body image desired to achieve. Second, to determine whether there is a sensitive relationship between disordered eating attitudes, addiction to social networks, and other biological factors, such as testosterone levels.

2. Background

College-aged women may be at particular risk for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating practices due to the unhealthy weight gain that often occurs during this life stage [ 3 , 31 ]. The promotion of beauty ideals in the media disseminates disordered eating [ 40 , 41 ], drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction among female college students [ 42 ]. Furthermore, the growth of social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook or Instagram, has also increased the exposure to thin and fit ideals [ 2 , 43 , 44 ]. The social media are more used than any other media as a mean of communication. These internet-based sites pulled the users to create personal profiles and share, view, comment and ‘like’ peer-generated content [ 20 ].

Importantly, young people, almost 90% of them (ages 18–29), reported being active users and being continuously exposed to different content and images in this medium [ 14 , 45 ]. Among the most active users of these media stands out the influencers. These new media role models have a significant impact in the last tendencies, the news and the trends that young people are following [ 46 ]. In this sense, researchers have also pointed out how social media and influencers may have the key to decrease body dissatisfaction and body concerns. Nevertheless, substantial studies have shown that economic interests are linked with the promotion of dieting in social media, or even surgery [ 47 ].

The last publications concluded that the most dangerous social media was Instagram, followed by Facebook and Twitter. These conclusions were based on the instant satisfaction of reviewing and having peer views in the images posted by the users [ 48 ]. Especially on Instagram, the message is accommodated according to the image uploaded [ 47 ].

These studies concluded that the influence of the advertising and the promotion of the thin and muscular ideals might more be connected with the perception that young people has regarding body, dieting and social media [ 49 ]. Additionally, the objectification suggests that the media’s sexual objectification of women modifies their body appearance. Due to this, it could be concluded that self-perception slowly shapes attractiveness resulting in a modification in the body-image, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitude. That being said, the proposed hypotheses are as follows:

Among young women, self-image will be linked to body dissatisfaction, the thin-ideal and the desire to change one’s body shape.

The level of body dissatisfaction among female college students will be high and be linked to self-esteem.

The young women’s eating behaviours will be linked to the degree of body dissatisfaction and the frequency of using social media.

The young women’s body image and body description will be slightly connected to prenatal testosterone levels.

3. Methodology

3.1. design and sample.

In the first phase, a cross-sectional study was carried out focused on female college students, aged from 18 to 25 years. The sample was recruited to participate in an in-person survey from April to May 2018 from the University of Cordoba. The selection of the sample was based on non-probability convenience sampling. This method of sampling was selected based on the accessibility of the students and previous scheduling with the professors.

The final sample was constituted by 168 subjects, from biological, education, informatics and nursing degrees who agreed to participate in the study voluntarily. The initial sample was 224, though the final sample was 168 after applying the exclusion terms. The mean age of the sample was 20 ± 0.76.

3.2. Measures

All the surveys used in the study are validated in different languages, including Spanish. Moreover, these surveys are used globally among health professionals and researchers in the health field [ 50 ].

The demographic and anthropometric data were not included in this study since the objective focused on the socio-cultural and individual factors. In this sense, the perception of young people was focused on social media, self-appearance, specific social network sites and distorted eating behaviours.

The EAT-26 with the reduced version of 26 items, was used to assess the frequency of disordered eating attitudes [ 51 , 52 ]. This test measures the low, medium and high risk of having a disordered eating attitude. Moreover, three different disordered eating behaviours can be reflected depending on the answers to each item. In this sense, these three subscales are dieting (focused on questions 1, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 26), bulimia and food preoccupation (focused on questions 3, 4, 9, 18, 21, 25) and food oral control (2, 5, 8, 13, 15, 8, 20). Total scores were calculated by taking the sum of the 26 items, based on the value from 0 to 3, where higher scores, over 20 points, indicated higher levels of disordered eating behaviours. This validated survey based on screening disorder eating attitudes when the score is over 20 points [ 52 ]. Nevertheless, this survey does not provide a definite diagnosis of eating disorders; therefore, a clinical evaluation is needed. This evaluation can be carried out via individual interviews.

The body satisfaction questionnaire (BSQ) [ 53 ], whose Spanish adaptation was completed by Raich [ 54 ], was used. The stereotypes perception survey from the University of Granada was also used [ 55 ].

The questions referring to body image included illustrations of women’s bodies. These illustrations comprise seven body images that vary from underweight to obese, numbered from 1 to 7. Additionally, a specific section focused on body satisfaction, examining their satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 7, with lower scores relating to higher levels of body dissatisfaction. In this section, one of the questions examined the steps each young person would take to attain a body type that corresponded to the ideal.

The body image concerns were observed by using the BSQ, a self-report instrument evaluating weight and shape preoccupations [ 54 ]. Sample items include: “Have you been so worried about your shape that you have felt you ought to diet?”; “Have you noticed the shape of others and felt that your shape compared unfavourably?” The questions were answered on a six-point Likert scale (1 = never, five = always).

The Appearance Evaluation (AE) subscale of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire-Appearance Scales (MBSRQ) was used to measure self-perception and stereotypes [ 56 ]. Participants rate the extent to which they agree with seven statements (e.g., “Most people would consider me good-looking”) on a five-point scale (1 = disagree, 5 = agree) with lower scores indicating lower self-perception and stereotypes.

Finally, self-esteem was evaluated by the Rosenberg survey (CIPE-a) composed of ten questions, which provided us with high, medium or low levels of self-esteem. The questions were given a scale on a four-point scale (1 = disagree, 4 = agree), with lower scores indicating lower self-esteem [ 57 ].

On the other hand, the survey that focused on social networks had preliminary yes/no items about having social network accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Snapchat. Participants indicated how often they access/check their respective accounts daily on a five-point scale: hardly ever, sometimes, usually, all most all the time and always. Additionally, the participants’ daily use (hours per day in social networks and highly visual social media, i.e., Instagram, Snapchat), number of accounts and importance given to these was rated on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) scale.

Meanwhile, addiction to social networks was evaluated by a validated survey called the Social Networks Addiction Questionnaire (SNSA) [ 50 ]. The survey is based on the DSM-IV-TR [ 27 ], a diagnostic instrument that does not recognize psychological addictions as disorders but as a prior stage that can lead to addiction. The survey is formed by 24 items applying a five-point rating system (from 0 to 4), taking into account the frequency from “never” to “always” [ 56 ].

The study has focused on the indirect determination of intrauterine testosterone levels during the gestation, determined experimentally from the difference in length of the phalanges of the hands (2D:4D ratio). This measure was selected to determine the possible relation with sociocultural factors indirectly. The selection of this method was based on reducing the risks, vulnerability and protecting biological or genetic material from the participants. When the ratio is higher, i.e., the difference between the second and fourth finger, lower levels of testosterone are implied [ 21 ]. 2D:4D is an indicator of testosterone and oestrogen levels [ 58 ], which heavily dictate attractiveness [ 17 ]. Therefore, this digit ratio may be related to self-perception, body image, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitudes.

3.3. Instruments

The instruments used to obtain the image of the hands were a Canon Camera EOS700D (produced by Canon Inc., which is a Japanese company founded in Ota, Tokyo) and a Manfrotto Compact Advance tripod (produced by Manfrotto, which is an Italian company founded in, produced and distributed form the USA). Additionally, free access software GeoGebra ( https://www.geogebra.org ), which is a free access software founded in Austria and later updated and mass produced in USA, was used to analyse the indirect marker of testosterone levels (2D:4D ratio).

3.4. Procedure

Participants approved a participant information statement, consent form and questionnaires, followed by the approval of the Research Ethics Committee of Public Health System in Cordoba (Ethical Approval number 273, reference 3773).

The participants were undergraduate students with health, education, life and engineering studies. The recruitment took place in different classrooms of the University, the objective of the study, ethical indications, risks for the participants and voluntary participation in the study being previously explained. During the recruitment a teacher and a researcher were present in the classroom the entire time.

The inclusion of the participants was based on an initial survey, which was provided previously in the same classroom. In this survey, the students were asked about the previous diagnosis of conduct or emotional disorders, addiction to technologies, abuse of substances and having a social network account. Those students that had a previous diagnosis of conduct, emotional disorders, or addiction were eliminated from the sample and were not given the survey of the study. Those students that did not have an account on any social network were also excluded from the study ( Figure 1 ).

Flow chart of the recruitment and selection of the sample.

3.5. Statistical Analysis

Mean and standard deviation (SD) were calculated for the quantitative variables and frequencies in the case of qualitative variables. Firstly, we studied the normalization of the data using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test ( p < 0.05). Moreover, Cronbach’s alpha test was used for determining the consistency among the scales and subscales and, especially, the SNS test showed acceptable value (0.77) and the EAT-26 (0.83) was excellent. In order to assess the first objective, the χ 2 test was used for the qualitative variables, such as gender and body image, and the Student’s t -test was applied to compare quantitative variables, such as the EAT-26 score and age. Additionally, correlational analyses were used to examine relations between all variables.

Moreover, the second set of analyses examined the impact of the relationship between disordered eating attitudes and the rest the factors measured. For this purpose, the crude and adjusted odds ratio (OR) values were calculated for the logistic regression. In the end, the ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curves and the validity indices were used for the diagnostic accuracy of disordered eating attitudes having body dissatisfaction and social networks addiction.

First Phase

The initial analysis of the data showed that women ( N = 168) had a range of age between 21 and 22, 96.7% of them being Caucasian ethnicity. Moreover, the body image that they had was in range between 3 and 4, which may imply a normal weight. The perception that they had of themselves was fatter (3.56 ± 1.2) when compared to the desired body image (2.99 ± 0.83) ( Table 1 ). Additionally, the most common description of body satisfaction showed low and medium-high levels of body satisfaction (48.7%). In this sense, the difference among the group with lower and higher levels of body satisfaction was related to the body image given by the women (χ 2 = 113.64, p < 0.001).

Mean, standard deviation and confidence intervals.

Moreover, the results from the data showed that almost 93% of the women desired to change at least three zones of their body using at least two different methods (1.98 ± 0.82). The methods most used were physical activity (92%), diet (48%), surgery (24%) and beauty or alimentary products (23%). Among the zones to be modified by a surgical procedure 68% of the women indicated breast implants.

The analysis of the results from the EAT-26 test showed that most of the women had a medium probability of having disordered eating attitudes (18.34 ± 10.7). Figure 2 reflects the frequency of the scores from the EAT-26 related to body satisfaction.

Results from the EAT-26 related to body satisfaction.

The figure displays a higher frequency of scores over 20 points in disordered eating behaviours in the lower points of the body satisfaction scale. This figure implies that there were more values over 20 points when women suffered higher levels of body dissatisfaction. Additionally, the analysis between the score in the disordered eating behaviour test and level of body satisfaction showed significant differences among individuals with low and high levels of body satisfaction and scores over 20 points in the EAT-26 (χ 2 = 375.34, p < 0.001). Moreover, a more in-depth analysis of the data, based on women with more than 20 points in the EAT-26, 48 out of 168 women showed that 40.81% had food oral control, 38.77% presented bulimia and food preoccupation and 20.5% dieting.

Further study of the data was carried out in order to address the possible correlations between the body image that women perceived of themselves and the other variables analysed. In Table 2 , the correlations between the body image and the different variables have shown significant value with numerous factors, including disordered eating attitudes, self-esteem, desired body image or number of methods. These correlations were positive for a fatter body image in higher scores in the EAT-26 and more methods used to modify the body image and the current body image. Moreover, negative correlations were found for a curvier description that the women gave about their body and higher desires for a thinner body image, higher body dissatisfaction and lower levels of self-esteem.

Correlations with body image that women perceived of themselves.

Another variable that determines a “fatter” body image is the level of prenatal testosterone, measured by the 2D:4D ratio. This result displayed a positive relationship implying that a higher 2D:4D ratio, lower levels of intrauterine testosterone, may lead to a fatter body image.

On the other hand, Table 3 exposed the analysis of correlations between the score obtained in EAT-26 for disordered eating attitudes and the other factors analysed. This test displayed a negative correlation between having a higher score in the test and having lower levels of body satisfaction, self-esteem, the desired of having a thinner body image and worse perception of their own body.

Correlations with having higher scores in the disordered eating attitudes test.

Moreover, the positive correlations were obtained for numerous factors studied. The most highlighting positive correlations were reflected for a higher score in the SNS addiction test, a fatter body image and a higher difference in the 2D:4D ratio. These results implied that a higher 2D:4D ratio or fatter body image may lead to a higher score in the EAT-26.

The logistic regression model was used to define a disordered eating behaviour related to having lower levels of body satisfaction, the desired to achieve a thinner body image, lower levels of self-esteem, higher score in the SNS addiction test, higher duration of connection to this media and higher difference between the second and fourth finger ( Table 4 ).

Logistic regression for disordered eating attitudes.

From the analysis based on levels of self-esteem and social networks, the results showed that most women have high levels of self-esteem (31.1 ± 4.7) and low levels of addictive behaviour to social network sites (14.69 ± 10.37). Furthermore, the results of the social network sites presented a high dispersion of the results. In this sense, the confidence intervals (95%) were focused on medium levels regarding addictive behaviour to SNS (13.11–16.26).

Based on this, the correlations for the score in the SNS addition test were studied. The results indicated positive significance for the number of methods used to change their body image (<0.001), higher desired of a thinner body ( p < 0.001), lower levels of self-esteem ( p < 0.001), greater number of social media accounts ( p < 0.001), longer duration of the connections ( p < 0.001) and the importance given to the social networks ( p < 0.001). Nevertheless, the difference between the second and fourth phalange (2D:4D ratio) showed no significance with scores in the social network addiction test.

Finally, based on the results from the logistic regression, a probabilistic model was obtained. This model could diagnose 42.9% of the population with disordered eating attitudes (R 2 Cox and Snell 0.429) by knowing if the person had scored high in the SNS addiction test, body image, body dissatisfaction and high desire of having a thinner body. The specificity (90.3), sensibility (68.9) and valid index (84.6) results were optimal. Finally, the curve of the model was analysed ( Figure 3 ) obtaining an acceptable probabilistic high risk of a disordered eating attitudes (area = 0.94, p < 0.001, CI 0.88–0.97).

ROC curve from the logistic model for disordered eating.

5. Discussion

This study has reflected how different factors, such as the level of self-esteem ( Table 1 ), might play a significant role in disordered eating behaviours. Among these factors the body image that women perceived over themselves stood out as a significant element. In this sense, according to previous researchers, body image is multidimensional, being made of perceptual, behavioural and cognitive-affective domains created by the individual [ 46 ]. This perception is dependent on a variety of elements, including social media and beauty ideals. In the case of social media, the results from this study showed a relationship between the body image, body ideals and the use of social media ( Table 2 and Table 3 ). Furthermore, previous publications explained that the desire to achieve the beauty ideal emerges as the internalization of the portrayed image exposed by the media [ 59 , 60 ]. Homan (2010) discussed how, among female college students, two principal beauty ideals coexist: the athletic-ideal and thin-ideal [ 61 ]. The internalization of the athletic-ideal predicts compulsive exercise [ 61 , 62 , 63 ]. Meanwhile, the thin-ideal internalization predicts food restriction and body dissatisfaction, both leading to disordered eating attitudes and possible origins for eating disorders [ 64 , 65 , 66 ]. These results confirm the association obtained between the desire of having a thinner body image and the use of the media since this media is the primary source to promote such ideals ( Table 3 ).

The issue resides on the fact that the thin-ideal produces a worse body image with a tendency toward frustration based on a fatter body image than desired. This concern among young women results in making different choices to obtain the desired image, such as surgery [ 67 , 68 ]. In this sense, the results from this paper also showed a high frequency of women determined to undergo plastic surgery to improve their image, being focused on breast surgery.

Notwithstanding, internalization of the fit-ideal has been studied as a predictor of the use of social media content related to health and fitness [ 69 , 70 ]. In this case, the fit ideal or athletic ideal may become a replacement for the other ideals, leading to healthier behaviour [ 71 ].

The results ( Table 2 ) have established that body dissatisfaction might be a potential agent in body image and desire to change this body image. These publications also accord with our earlier observations, which showed that levels of body dissatisfaction were associated with the desire of changing the body image in order to achieve a thinner body, especially using dieting [ 72 ]. Based on this, the results appear to match with previous works about how body dissatisfaction and body concerns in young women and teenagers may be related to disordered eating attitudes [ 27 , 73 ].

Another significant outcome was the link between body concerns, body dissatisfaction and levels of self-esteem ( Table 2 ). These data are in accord with recent investigations which connected body dissatisfaction and self-esteem to mental illness and the role of emotional distress in behavioural disorders [ 48 ].

Another study found that body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitudes could be related to a high level of intrauterine testosterone, measured by the 2D:4D ratio. The prenatal masculinization has been established as a potential intermediate phenotype for the development of these disorders in their offspring [ 74 ]. Following these studies, the results obtained in this paper seem to initially match such conclusions ( Table 3 ) [ 75 ]. These results are partially consistent with the existing literature relating to dieting, alimentary products, such as supplements, negative affect, body dissatisfaction and the tendency to thinness [ 71 ]. Nevertheless, the results obtained regarding the hormonal levels may be related to the environmental conditions during the pregnancy more than the individual level of hormones [ 76 ].

The results of the study ( Table 4 ) have shown how social network sites might play an important role in disordered eating attitudes. In the study carried out by Cohen et al. (2018), the influence of the social networks was determined by the content and the selfies that the users upload to them more than by the assiduity of the connections [ 20 ]. This is partially contradictory to the present results in which the addiction to SNS and the duration of the connections were linked to weight loss and unhealthy dieting. These results match with previous studies in the sociocultural factors, not included among biological measures [ 77 , 78 ]. Withstanding, it is important to note that the regression model obtained in this study have shown the probable role of factors, such as the degree of body satisfaction, self-esteem, use of SNS and other measures, such as the 2D:4D ratio, related to disordered eating behaviours.

Additionally, SNS addiction, which has been related to other mental disorders [ 79 ], has shown correlation with stereotypes, self-esteem, method of change, thinner body image and the desired part of the body to change. In this sense, prior investigations proved the addiction to social media as cause–effect of disordered behaviours [ 80 , 81 ].

The present study raises the possibility that disordered eating attitudes in women might be conditioned by the influence of the ideals of beauty imposed by the social environment and to a lesser extent by the exposure to intrauterine levels of testosterone extracted from the 2D:4D ratio of the phalanges. It is possible, therefore, that disordered eating attitudes are multidimensional disorders produced by the media, hormones, and factors related to body concerns. Although this study has focused on Spanish college students, the results ( Table 2 and Figure 2 ) seem to match with previous works conducted in Caucasian women [ 82 , 83 ]. These studies seem to distant themselves from publications focused on Latina or African American young women or adolescents [ 84 , 85 ]. Nevertheless, it is possible, therefore, that because the study was carried out in Spanish college students, the results might not match university women from other countries.

Nevertheless, as with all research, the current findings need to be considered in light of possible limitations of the study. Therefore, biases and possibly incorrect data may have been included, and causal inferences cannot be drawn. Additionally, as with the majority of the body image literature, the current participants were university students, based on the sample and size of the sample caution is recommended in not generalizing these results to other samples or different samples. Nevertheless, these results seem to provide essential data regarding social media, disordered eating and the perception of the young people about themselves. Another limitation present in this study is the lack of inclusion of further cultural factors, such as the mother–child relationship, and anthropometric data, such as BMI.

All being said, the results from this manuscript and the comparison with previous works suggest how the initial hypothesis has been entirely or partially confirmed, showing how disordered eating behaviours are complex eating attitudes.

6. Conclusions

This paper has argued the relationship between body image, body concerns, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating behaviours present in college women from the south of Spain. This study has identified that women reported moderate levels of body dissatisfaction and body concerns, which were consistently and strongly associated with disordered eating attitudes. In this sense, this work has established high levels of body dissatisfaction, and the link with the desire to achieve a thinner body image. Additionally, the study has shown how body dissatisfaction and desire to achieve the thin-ideal appear to be universal among college women.

Additionally, one of the more significant findings to emerge from this study was that the thin-ideal seems to be widespread in social media. This ideal can promote unhealthy measures, such as dieting, increase body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitudes. In this sense, the desire to change the body image and taking unhealthy measures was common, given the proliferation of the use of the social network sites where images and content encourage women to aspire to unrealistic and unattainable body ideals. In this sense, the study associated body dissatisfaction, body concerns, and general mental well-being, demonstrating that interventions to improve body perception and satisfaction are essential. Additionally, this research found that higher levels of prenatal testosterone might decrease the probability of having a disordered eating attitude among women. That said, the current study suggests a connection between disordered eating attitudes, negative impacts of exposure to thin-ideal content, addiction to social media and intrauterine testosterone levels.

Concerning practical implications, researchers have asserted that increasing body appreciation may be easier than attempting to decrease body dissatisfaction and for those disordered eating attitudes. Furthermore, the findings regarding the negative impact of exposure to social media related to women’s body satisfaction and body appreciation are notable. Despite the limitations present in this manuscript, the findings may help us to understand body concerns focused on the impact of exposure to social media.

In the end, future investigations should continue exploring differences in the levels of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, including the differences between various ethnic groups. Given the findings regarding differences between those with higher and lower score in EAT-26, the role of social media may be essential in levels of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitudes within specific gender/age groups. Longitudinal research is needed to determine the direction of the association between the frequency of connections to social media and body dissatisfaction/disordered eating behaviours. Researchers may also consider culturally-relevant factors that may differentially influence such behaviours.

Acknowledgments

We would also like to thank of UCO Social Innova Project Galileo IV from the institution of OTRI of the University of Cordoba, Spain and the funding provided from “IDEP/Escuela de Doctorado” of the University of Cordoba to one of the authors. The content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the OTRI.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: P.A.-M. and M.V.A.; methodology: P.A.-M. and M.P.M.-J.; validation: A.-J.P.-M.; formal analysis: P.A.-M. and A.-J.P.-M.; investigation: P.A.-M. and A.-J.P.-M.; resources: M.P.M.-J. and A.-J.P.-M.; data curation: M.D.R.-M.; writing—original draft preparation: P.A.-M., M.P.M.-J. and A.-J.P.-M.; writing—review and editing: M.V.A. and C.P.; visualization: C.P.; supervision: M.D.R.-M., C.P. and M.V.A.; project administration: M.V.A. and M.P.M.-J.; funding acquisition: M.V.A.

UCO Social Innova Project Galileo IV from the institution of OTRI of the University of Cordoba, Spain and the funding provided from “IDEP/Escuela de Doctorado” of the University of Cordoba.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Beauty Standards and Their Impact Essay

Introduction.

Beauty generally refers to the mixture of aesthetic qualities such as form, shape and color that pleases the eyesight. Beauty is divided into two broad branches, that is, human beauty and beauty in things around us. Human beauty can also be classified into physical beauty and beauty of the soul. Beauty in things around us entails architecture and physical features.

Society at large has always put emphasis that beauty being admired and looked after trait. A good example in a society is a Marketing and Advertisement Industry that sells all everything by showcasing its beauty. Some countries however hold beauty more highly than others. Such countries include The U.S is the leading.

The physical beauty of a person opens ways for the person to get their soulmates without struggle. It is usually the first impression that makes the attraction to a mate much easier. It smoothens the bumps that life gives during the search for a soulmate. However, you should take into account that its importance fades away quickly with time. As you go through life, you realize that what you thought was beauty fades away. During this period, people tend to embark on the other kind of beauty which is the beauty of the soul. The beauty of the soul entails traits such as personality, sense of humor, intelligence and other factors that entail a person’s character.

The beauty of the things around us such as the works of architecture such as unique buildings, bridges and others and physical features such as mountains and water bodies are very important as they bring happiness and joy to our eyesight. They are used as sources of recreational facilities for both children and adults. Children go to places rich in physical features to break class monotony. Adults go to beautiful places while depressed or just while they need some refreshment. They are also used as sources of learning facilities for persons of all ages. Children go to learn new things in their environment and that is the same with adults.

All people need beauty but it depends on which type of beauty is in question. To explain this, children only find beauty in things such as toys and also in places they go. Adults on the other hand see the world clearly and thus they need beauty in everything they do and places they go. Some people however need beauty more than others. Women for example tend to be more obsessed with beauty in almost everything. They always look for perfection in their body and also in everything they do on a daily basis. This has consequently made them turn to cosmetics in order to look more beautiful. Some are now even doing surgery to modify their faces and other parts of their bodies. People always need beauty in their lives. This is always largely contributed by things around them. Take, for example, a beautiful compound with a wonderful house and a beautiful garden in the backyard that will always bring happiness and improve the lives of people living there.

As the say goes, beauty is in the beholder’s eyes. The perception of people on beauty is influenced by cultural heritage. For instance, American culture perceives youthfulness as beauty and European perceives flawless skin as an ideal beauty. In Africa, however, a filled-out large figure is referred to as beauty. In today’s society, beauty is people are beginning to relate beauty to be prosperous and happy. Many cultures have fueled the obsession with women being pretty and that in turn led to the introduction of cosmetics among different cultures. Almost all the cultures in the world value beauty so highly that many quantitative measures of beauty are constructed socially.

There are some types of beauty that the media have long forgotten and no longer classify as types of beauty. These include architecture and music. The media nowadays classify architecture as more of a science than art while the music on the other hand is long forgotten when they talk about those categories. Through the help of the media, our concepts about beauty can be globalized more so through social media networks as almost all the young people in this new generation are using social media networks and the information can travel faster.

There are many controversies about beauty in nature compared to that in human form. It is important that we consider all as having beauty but the one has more beauty than the other. Human being has a beauty that fades away with time while nature has a permanent beauty that never fades away. For example, take a look at the sky, the moon, the river and so on, their beauty last forever. Men are interested in the beauty of other things than that of their own while women always tend to be self-centered when it comes to beauty. Concerning your appearance is normal and understandable. In today’s society, everywhere you go be it at work, school, or interview, your personal appearance will always influence people’s impression of you.

Looking at the other side of the coin, the standards that society has put on women have enabled some women to thrive and become successful. Let’s take America for example, a country that produces many models and enables women to develop their careers in terms of beauty. It has led to many other opportunities such as selling cosmetics and fashion design.

The physical beauty of human beings fades away with time. The beauty of nature and of the soul is permanent. Society has set some unrealistic standards for women in terms of beauty which are vague and should be overlooked.

Skivko, M. (2020). Deconstruction in Fashion as a Path Toward New Beauty Standards: The Maison Margiela Case. ZoneModa Journal , 10 (1), 39-49.

McCray, S. (2018). Redefining Society’s Beauty Standards.

Capaldi, C. A., Passmore, H. A., Ishii, R., Chistopolskaya, K. A., Vowinckel, J., Nikolaev, E. L., & Semikin, G. I. (2017). Engaging with natural beauty may be related to well-being because it connects people to nature: Evidence from three cultures. Ecopsychology, 9(4), 199-211.

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Survey Says: Social Media Sets Unrealistic Beauty Standards

By Danica Lo

For decades now, people have debated and discussed the negative (and positive) ways images we see in media impact the way we perceive ourselves—especially when it comes to beauty and fitness ideals and expectations. And now, with the advent and rise of social media in the last 10 years, there are even more messages to contend with on a daily basis.

Dove recently conducted a social media survey—and combining their findings with Twitter data, reached some pretty shocking conclusions:

· Women wrote more than 5 million negative tweets in 2014.

· Four out of every five negative beauty tweets from women were about themselves.

· Women are 50 percent more likely to say something negative (rather than positive) about themselves on social media.

And it's not like women like all the negativity we encounter on our screens. I mean, I know I don't like it...and it seems, according to the survey findings, that's the general consensus. In fact, "82 percent of women feel the beauty standards set by social media are unrealistic," according to the Dove study. And "almost three quarters of women believe social media comments critiquing women's beauty are destructive to their self-esteem."

So what can we do to change all this? Well, first of all, we can make an effort to curtail self-snarking social media posts. To that end, Dove is launching a campaign called #SpeakBeautiful , which encourages women to "realize the role our online words play in impacting our confidence and self-esteem."

Check out the new campaign video, below:

The commercial will make its prime-time debut on Oscar night (Sunday!)—and you can participate in the positive dialogue by tweeting @Dove . And the tweet won't stop there.

The company has partnered with women including self-esteem ambassador Jess Weiner , Dr. Jen Hartstein, and Danah Boyd to create responses to negative tweets on Oscar night.

Yup—tweet something snarky and mean on Sunday and you might just get pinged back by Team Dove with a positive message from one of their experts. How's that for killing with kindness?

Have you ever caught yourself tweeting something negative about yourself or someone else on Twitter? Tell us what you think of the campaign in the comments below.

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Opinion Michelle Goldberg

The Internet Is a Wasteland, So Give Kids Better Places to Go

Credit... Damon Winter/The New York Times

Supported by

By Michelle Goldberg

Opinion Columnist

• March 18, 2024

In January, I had the odd experience of nodding along with Senator Lindsey Graham, who can usually be relied on to be wrong, as he berated the supervillain Mark Zuckerberg, head of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, about the effect its products have on kids. “You have blood on your hands,” said Graham.

That evening, I moderated a panel on social media regulation whose participants included New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, a progressive crusader and perhaps Donald Trump’s single most effective antagonist. Her position wasn’t that different from that of Graham, a South Carolina Republican. There is a correlation, she pointed out, between the proliferation of addictive social media algorithms and the collapse of young people’s mental health, including rising rates of depression, suicidal thoughts and self-harm.

“And I’ve seen that for myself,” she said, describing helping the family of a young girl find a scarce psychiatric bed during the pandemic. “She talked to me a lot about social media.”

Because alarm over what social media is doing to kids is broad and bipartisan, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt is pushing on an open door with his important new book, “ The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness .” The shift in kids’ energy and attention from the physical world to the virtual one, Haidt shows, has been catastrophic, especially for girls.

Female adolescence was nightmarish enough before smartphones, but apps like Instagram and TikTok have put popularity contests and unrealistic beauty standards into hyperdrive. (Boys, by contrast, have more problems linked to overuse of video games and porn.) The studies Haidt cites — as well as the ones he debunks — should put to bed the notion that concern over kids and phones is just a modern moral panic akin to previous generations’ hand-wringing over radio, comic books and television.

But I suspect that many readers won’t need convincing. The question in our politics is less whether these ubiquitous new technologies are causing widespread psychological damage than what can be done about it.

So far, the answer has been not much. The federal Kids Online Safety Act, which was recently revised to allay at least some concerns about censorship, has the votes to pass the Senate but hasn’t even been introduced in the House. In the absence of federal action, both red and blue states have tried to enact their own laws to safeguard kids online, but many have been enjoined by courts for running afoul of the First Amendment. Lawmakers in New York are working on a bill that tries to rein in predatory social media apps while respecting free speech; it targets the algorithms that social media companies use to serve kids ever more extreme content, keeping them glued to their phones. But while the law seems likely to pass, no one knows whether courts will uphold it.

There are, however, small but potentially significant steps local governments can take right now to get kids to spend less time online, steps that raise no constitutional issues at all. Phone-free schools are an obvious start, although, in a perverse American twist, some parents object to them because they want to be able to reach their kids if there’s a mass shooting. More than that, we need a lot more places — parks, food courts, movie theaters, even video arcades — where kids can interact in person.

In “The Anxious Generation,” Haidt argues that while kids are underprotected on the internet, they’re overprotected in the real world and that these two trends work in tandem. For a whole host of reasons — parental fear, overzealous child welfare departments, car-centric city planning — kids generally have a lot less freedom and independence than their parents did. Sitting at home in front of screens may keep them safe from certain physical harms, but it leaves them more vulnerable to psychological ones.

Reading Haidt’s book, I kept thinking of a park in Paris’s Les Halles district where adults aren’t allowed and how much easier it would be to keep kids off the internet if there were similar parks scattered around American cities and towns. I would much rather have my children, who are 9 and 11, roaming the neighborhood than spending hours interacting with friends remotely on apps like Roblox.

But it’s hard to make them go outside when there are no other kids around. One of my favorite days of the year is my Brooklyn neighborhood’s block party, when the street is closed to traffic and the kids play in packs, most ignored by their tipsy parents. It demonstrates how the right physical environment can encourage offscreen socializing.

As I was finishing “The Anxious Generation,” a book that partly overlaps with it arrived in the mail: “Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be.” The author, Timothy P. Carney, is a conservative Catholic father of six who wants to encourage other people to have lots of kids. He and I agree about very little, but we’re in complete accord about the need for communities to be “kid-walkable and kid-bikeable” so that children will have more real-world autonomy. Carney cites a 2023 paper from The Journal of Pediatrics concluding that a “primary cause of the rise in mental disorders is a decline over decades in opportunities for children and teens to play, roam and engage in other activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults.”

If we want to start getting kids off line, we need to give them better places to go instead.

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Michelle Goldberg has been an Opinion columnist since 2017. She is the author of several books about politics, religion and women’s rights, and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2018 for reporting on workplace sexual harassment.

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