“It’s unrealistic to think that your body or my body will ever look like anyone else’s.”
Since the dawn of mass media, unrealistic depictions of beauty in advertising, films, and television have been damaging the self-esteem of generations of young women.
In the age of social media, the perfectly-filtered images on Instagram and Snapchat have created another front in the war on young women’s self-esteem. Now, with the advent of face filters, people are getting plastic surgery to look like the filtered versions of themselves.
Where does it end?
“Filtered selfies can make people lose touch with reality, creating the expectation that we are supposed to look perfectly primped all the time,” Neelam Vashi, MD, director of the Ethnic Skin Center at BMC and Boston University School of Medicine, said in Science Daily.
“This can be especially harmful for teens and those with [body dysmorphic disorder], and it is important for [health] providers to understand the implications of social media on body image to better treat and counsel our patients,” Vashi continued.
“Riverdale” star Lili Reinhart bravely spoke out about the effect that seeing herself on social media has had on her body image. Her words are much needed in a time when more people are turning to plastic surgery due to body dysmorphic disorder.
\n"Embracing your natural beauty does not exclude anyone. There is no fine print. You can be naturally beautiful with acne, scars, cellulite or curves." - @lilireinhart #GlamourWOTY pic.twitter.com/rAtLS3pPnL
— Glamour (@glamourmag) November 11, 2018\n
“I became hyper-aware of my changing body,” she said in a speech at the Glamour 2018 Women of the Year Summit. “I could see the difference in my shape in photos and wondered if anyone else was noticing. I felt this strange, constant struggle of having to live up to the expectation of the appearance that I had already established to the world.”
While most young women aren’t hounded by paparazzi, they are most likely dealing with anxiety caused photos of themselves and others on social media. So Reinhart shared some important advice for them.
“Remind yourself that this perfect world you see online or in magazines…in movies and television…are presented to you through many different filters,” she said. “Do not set impossible goals of meeting those fake standards. It’s unrealistic to think that your body or my body will ever look like anyone else’s. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. We are all imperfectly beautiful.”
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Woman’s bikini shot and caption become a manifesto on self-acceptance. - GOOD
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