as much as the literati likes to mock and deride young women BookTokkers, I think romanticizing the cultivation of the life of the mind is so much healthier than chasing and promoting beauty trends… girl, inject your brain not your lips
such a powerful and speculative piece on the influence of social media and beauty standards.
I think a really interesting moment to touch on was the immediate hate VS was met with when they tried to make their annual fashion show “more inclusive”.
I think we are back in the 90s/early 2000s era of obsessing over being thin. Which says a lot about our inability to change beauty standards.
Much like our approval of denim on denim, we end up back at the beginning of the cycle every 10 years or so.
The conversation of pretty vs. ugly is (sadly) as old as time, but social media does add a dystopian spin to it that we've never seen before. What I have trouble understanding (as an elder Millennial who is older than Google): Young people see other people in real live every day (teachers, students, parents, etc.). All of these people all look different and are (I would assume) not all following the social media standards of prettiness. What went wrong that people believe social media more than real life? Is it the sheer volume of content that is consumed that warps the perception here? Or is it the lack of comparison of beauty influencers to real life?
Annika, I will comment on the "Beauty Saga" later, but first I want to complement you on your "older than Google" description. I love that metric. By the way, Yours Truly is "older than Fairchild Semiconductor and also older than Control Data."
It’s so depressing.. I feel like so many of the women my age are so plugged in to the online beauty standards and even the ones that aren’t still adhere to the trends, just a little later.
More women need to hear this quote: “pretty” is not the rent you pay to exist in this world as a woman.
I think the way that you can’t criticize the plastic surgery industry without being told that you shouldn’t judge women’s choices fits into this problem too. Great piece
Excellent writing! Thank you for sharing your brilliant and powerful critique of the never ending beauty trend cycles in our postmodern digital world. I think you nailed it by bringing light to the idea that many of these beauty image fixations experienced by women are rooted in an underlying psychological pain or a misguided attempt to mask that emotional pain. The eugenics angle is especially concerning to me; you’re right that there’s undoubtedly a horrific white supremacist “ideal” at play here. Society’s propagation of white beauty leads down a dangerous road towards eugenics, racism, and ableist bigotry. The beauty standard language seems to imply that some people are “good” while others are “bad,” and the false binary leads to the dehumanization and othering of people who don’t conform to this nonsensical narrative. As you wrote, there’s a lot of pain and suffering just beneath the surface. Lena often has to tolerate such abuse from her public detractors; it’s just awful. I sure hope body acceptance or body neutrality starts to make a comeback, but tbh I’m a bit skeptical. Your writing helped me to feel less alone in my shock and despair at the endless social feeds of unobtainable and frankly bizarre beauty trends. Wtf is fox pretty? Anyway thank you for speaking up so powerfully about this urgent issue.
Based on the whims of 16 year olds with iphones - wasn't this also a thing with teenagers insulting random ADULTS in Sephora? bring back reticent and timid children I beg
“Imagine waking up every day and deciding whether you’re allowed to go outside, or speak publicly, or work, or fall in love” OOOF this is exactly what it felt like to be fat in high school and college until I decided I didn’t care anymore and that I had to live my life. I’m not saying it was ever good that this judgement was (and continues to) thrown at fat people, but it’s crazy seeing this mindset expanded to include EVERYONE that doesn’t fit a very particular beauty standard that can only be found online, anyway. Not to be such a millennial but the kids need to touch grass — literally go outside and look at regular people’s faces because most of humankind isn’t ascribing to these arbitrary standards.
it genuinely baffles me how so many people fall for these ideas when they're clearly not benefitting anyone (other than capitalism and a handful of people of the world)
as much as the literati likes to mock and deride young women BookTokkers, I think romanticizing the cultivation of the life of the mind is so much healthier than chasing and promoting beauty trends… girl, inject your brain not your lips
if you said this on TT they'd have to stone you publicly and try you as a witch
don’t tempt me…..
when will it end!!!
such a powerful and speculative piece on the influence of social media and beauty standards.
I think a really interesting moment to touch on was the immediate hate VS was met with when they tried to make their annual fashion show “more inclusive”.
I think we are back in the 90s/early 2000s era of obsessing over being thin. Which says a lot about our inability to change beauty standards.
Much like our approval of denim on denim, we end up back at the beginning of the cycle every 10 years or so.
The conversation of pretty vs. ugly is (sadly) as old as time, but social media does add a dystopian spin to it that we've never seen before. What I have trouble understanding (as an elder Millennial who is older than Google): Young people see other people in real live every day (teachers, students, parents, etc.). All of these people all look different and are (I would assume) not all following the social media standards of prettiness. What went wrong that people believe social media more than real life? Is it the sheer volume of content that is consumed that warps the perception here? Or is it the lack of comparison of beauty influencers to real life?
Annika, I will comment on the "Beauty Saga" later, but first I want to complement you on your "older than Google" description. I love that metric. By the way, Yours Truly is "older than Fairchild Semiconductor and also older than Control Data."
It’s so depressing.. I feel like so many of the women my age are so plugged in to the online beauty standards and even the ones that aren’t still adhere to the trends, just a little later.
More women need to hear this quote: “pretty” is not the rent you pay to exist in this world as a woman.
I love this quote!
I think the way that you can’t criticize the plastic surgery industry without being told that you shouldn’t judge women’s choices fits into this problem too. Great piece
Excellent writing! Thank you for sharing your brilliant and powerful critique of the never ending beauty trend cycles in our postmodern digital world. I think you nailed it by bringing light to the idea that many of these beauty image fixations experienced by women are rooted in an underlying psychological pain or a misguided attempt to mask that emotional pain. The eugenics angle is especially concerning to me; you’re right that there’s undoubtedly a horrific white supremacist “ideal” at play here. Society’s propagation of white beauty leads down a dangerous road towards eugenics, racism, and ableist bigotry. The beauty standard language seems to imply that some people are “good” while others are “bad,” and the false binary leads to the dehumanization and othering of people who don’t conform to this nonsensical narrative. As you wrote, there’s a lot of pain and suffering just beneath the surface. Lena often has to tolerate such abuse from her public detractors; it’s just awful. I sure hope body acceptance or body neutrality starts to make a comeback, but tbh I’m a bit skeptical. Your writing helped me to feel less alone in my shock and despair at the endless social feeds of unobtainable and frankly bizarre beauty trends. Wtf is fox pretty? Anyway thank you for speaking up so powerfully about this urgent issue.
Based on the whims of 16 year olds with iphones - wasn't this also a thing with teenagers insulting random ADULTS in Sephora? bring back reticent and timid children I beg
I BEG
I'm glad I found you!
“Imagine waking up every day and deciding whether you’re allowed to go outside, or speak publicly, or work, or fall in love” OOOF this is exactly what it felt like to be fat in high school and college until I decided I didn’t care anymore and that I had to live my life. I’m not saying it was ever good that this judgement was (and continues to) thrown at fat people, but it’s crazy seeing this mindset expanded to include EVERYONE that doesn’t fit a very particular beauty standard that can only be found online, anyway. Not to be such a millennial but the kids need to touch grass — literally go outside and look at regular people’s faces because most of humankind isn’t ascribing to these arbitrary standards.
not a single miss !! you've captured the essence of this issue so perfectly
it genuinely baffles me how so many people fall for these ideas when they're clearly not benefitting anyone (other than capitalism and a handful of people of the world)
Have you heard of looksmaxxing? If not, don’t fall don’t the rabbit hole… it’s too much
the incels have won the internet I fear