My Opinion on Politics, Race, and Gender Discrimination

Beauty Ideals

Nowadays, people are less discriminatory against women, and though a lot of men are sexist, a lot of other men don't judge women by their appearance or at least recognize it's wrong. I feel that no matter how far we progress, women always have thought at the back of their minds saying that they're not pretty enough and that people won't like them because of that. Everyone gets these anxious thoughts, but I believe that women are especially self-conscious about beauty because it has been weaved into their minds since they were girls.
Society has always made women feel not beautiful enough, and all women are affected by this. This especially affects their mental health. This drives women to anxiety and eating disorders.
Women stress themselves out to achieve the perfect body, which is virtually impossible, so they sacrifice mental and physical health for an unrealistic goal. This can range from looking at yourself in the mirror and

not being satisfied with your body, to generating fear of eating.
Beauty ideals affect every aspect of a woman's life. If her employer is sexist, he might not promote her. If a woman is plus size, she could have trouble finding a date. If she has judgemental family members, she could not want to spend time with them.
This psychological pressure we put on women is not new. We've been programming women to aspire to be thin, white, with long, straight silky hair, and it's going to be hard to deprogram society from believing in this.
Because of the internet, people can easily be judged on their appearance. Imagine how easy it is for someone to comment, 'you're fat', or ''you're ugly' as if there was one type of beauty. All women are beautiful. If all women were the same, there would be one type of beauty. All women are not the same so there are many different types of beauty. On the internet, you can tell women to wear more make up, lose weight, and much more.
Social Media allows women to edit themselves to look like whatever they want. It helps them look pretty. It

makes them feel pretty, but it fills them with disappointment because they want to look like that. A thing that people associate with feminism is that if you are a feminist, you can't be feminine. This is not true. Feminism means equality. Feminity is not a sign of weakness, it's something some women are in touch with, and some women are not. If you like makeup, wear it. If you want to lose some weight and get into shape for health reasons, do it, but don't do it just because you don't like yourself, because you should like yourself.
Different cultures have different female beauty standards. I will admit that we have made progress. People can recognize all women as beautiful because they are. Plus size women, black women, brown women, women with vitiligo are now seen as beautiful. They always were, but they were never seen or described as beautiful. Society has poisonous beauty standards and the women who are willing to defy those stereotypes are real heroes. All people have insecurities. Maybe there's something about yourself you'd like to change. Maybe you have a scar, or space between your teeth, and it doesn't make you feel comfortable. There's nothing wrong with having these features, but normally what is different is supposed to

be hidden or erased. That's how society works. If you have something that is considered a flaw, even if it's not a flaw, you are asked to hide it, which is why I admire someone who doesn't fear showing people their insecurities. Some cultures have very strict rules on what women should look like. These are countries where women have more insecurities. Women with more curves, something that was not a beauty standard until recently, are judged solely on that. Women are all beautiful, and society shouldn't make them feel like they aren't. That's the conclusion.