Thao 1

Nancy Thao
U of U Writing
Rogers
03-17-16
Beauty Standards and Self-esteem
Beauty standards are created by society and its people. These standards tell a person how
they should look according to society. Some of the standards come from celebrities and
supermodels, due to their slim bodies and looks. They are viewed to be flawless on their
appearance. Researchers have found that beauty standards affect peoples self-esteem. One of the
beauty standards is body image and the other is facial features. Cosmetics are used for fixing up
a persons facial flaws and changing their facial looks to look beautiful. People would compare
their bodies and weight to others and think that their bodies are not perfect enough. With the
person thinking that their body and weight is not good enough, it can lead the person to having
eating disorders.
In a Cash and Cash (1982) study, they find that women who are dissatisfied with
themselves were more prone to the cosmetic uses and that cosmetic uses relate to lower levels of
social anxiety and higher facial satisfaction (Cash, Rissi, and Chapman). Makeup is used to
cover up a face from flaws and lightens up a persons face to look more beautiful. They are also
used as a tool of social self-presentation and self-image management (Cash, Rissi, and
Chapman). Cosmetic use may reflect taking pride in ones appearance and producing feelings of
accomplishment with aesthetic self-enhancement (Cash, Rissi, and Chapman). People use
cosmetics for their own comfort and It lead to stronger attributions of femininity and
attractiveness (Cash, Rissi, and Chapman). It brings out the beauty from women. Cosmetics

Thao 2

are used more often when a person is not happy with themselves, by appearance. They use it as a
tool for a form of comfort and a self-esteem booster. Cosmetics makes the person look more
attractive and more lady-like.
Some beauty standards may also come from cosmetic advertisements. Advertising
draws on peoples insecurities to buy a product (Ossola). The campaign is to make women feel
bad about themselves (Wilcox and Laird). If women see a discrepancy between themselves and
the images they view in the advertisements (which they most definitely will), they will be more
inclined to buy the products (Serdar). Woman read these magazines with the hope that if they
follow the advice given, they will be more acceptable and attractive (Serdar). Companies target
women who are most likely to compare themselves with the ideal image of a perfect look. It
motivates women to buy their products to bring them closer to the ideal (Serdar). Women buy
products to look beautiful and with the tendency to be obsessed with beauty it encourages
everyone from young girls to old women to be obsessed with their appearance (Orbach). We
are constantly surrounded by all sorts of media and we construct our identities in part through
media images we see (Ossola). Advertisements are reached out to women who are not satisfied
with themselves and companies encourage them to buy their products to achieve the look they
want. They buy the products hoping that they will be more acceptable and more attractive.
Wilcox and Laird has done an experiment where they had women examine pictures of
models and had them fill out a measure of self-esteem and body esteem and report their feelings.
They had two categories: personal cue and situational cue, whereas personal cue is when the
person is affected by seeing slim models and situational has no affect at all. They found that the
more the women looked at the image of a slender model, the more unsatisfied they were with
themselves and the lower self-esteem. The ones who fell into the personal cues were the ones

Thao 3

who were affected With thinness presented as the ideal body shape and a necessary prerequisite
for health and happiness, anyone falling short of this ideal is vulnerable to depression, poor selfesteem and general body dissatisfaction (Vitelli). When women are shown either still
photographs or TV commercials with super-slender models they report shifts towards negative
moods and increases in various measures of dissatisfaction with their bodies (Wilcox and
Laird). The more girls are exposed to thin-ideal kinds of media, the more they are dissatisfied
with their bodies and with themselves overall (Ossola). Self-esteem reduces as a person looks at
pictures with slim models. By comparing their bodies to the pictures, they become more insecure
about their bodies and become unsatisfied towards their own body.
Body image comes from celebrities and models. Some women and young teenage girls
look up to these famous people. It gives them an unrealistic image as an ideal to follow (Vitelli).
Adolescent females who are unable to conform the ideal being put forward by movie and
television find themselves taking extreme measures to be more like their role models (Vitelli).
People start comparing their own bodies to other celebrities and models. Images in the media
today project an unrealistic and even dangerous standard of feminine beauty that can have a
powerful influence on the way women view themselves (Sadar). They scan their bodies to
make sure nothing is untoward and scold themselves if they judge that something is (Orbach).
Teens have role models and see them as an ideal image for themselves and try to have a similar
body to their role model.
In magazines, TV, and movies, women see models who are increasingly and unrealistic
slender (Wilcox and Laird). Such standards of beauty are almost completely unattainable for
most women (Serdar). Of one-hundred people who go on diets, only three will find that the
diet helps them. For the remaining ninety-seven, the diet will fail to stabilize their weight at a

Thao 4

lower level (Orbach). Its not only women going on diets, but teenagers as well. More and
more twelve-year-old girls are going on diets because they believe what you weigh determines
your worth (Ossola). It doesnt always help everyone as the diet says it would. Contemporary
with a shift toward thinner and thinner models in advertising and entertainment has come a rise
in eating disorders (Wilcox and Laird). Body dissatisfactions and preoccupation with food,
shape, and weight are some of the core features in the diagnostic criteria of both anorexia
nervosa and bulimia nervosa (Serdar). Women who report higher levels of social comparison
are at greater risk to develop extreme preoccupation with weight and appearance, are more likely
to display disordered eating patterns and/or clinical eating disorders (Serdar). Models are
getting thinner and thinner, making it seem like thats a body that society will accept. People try
to go on diets to obtain a body of a model but only a few will find that it works out for them, but
others find that it doesnt help them. Teenage girls are also going on diets because they think
their weight determines how worthy they are. Models in social media are considered to have a
healthy body weight. It sends a message to women that they need to sacrifice their health in order
to look attractive by societal standards (Serdar).
A beauty standard tells someone how they should look according to societys
expectations. Society has put up beauty standards of body image and looks that are considered to
be attractive. Cosmetics for facial changes and body image are examples for the standards.
Cosmetics are used as a tool for a person comfort. Advertisements tend to target women who
arent happy with themselves so they can buy their product. They would go on diets and follow
advice from an advertisement in hopes that they would look attractive. Women tend to have
lower self-esteem as they proceed to look at models that are slim, which is considered to be the
perfect body type. Models and celebrities have the ideal of a perfect body. People compare

Thao 5

their own bodies from the celebrities and models and they begin to hate their own bodies and
become unsatisfied with themselves.

Thao 6

Cash F, Thomas. Rissi, John. Chapman, Rees. Not just another pretty face: sex roles, locus of
control and cosmetics use Sage Journals. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.

Orbach, Susie. The beauty industry steals womens self-esteem and convinces us to spend
unwisely in pursuit of physical perfection. N.d: 2 pages. Print

Ossola, Alexandra. The Medias Effect on Womens Body Image. Hamilton. N.p. 01 Sept.
2010. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
Serder L, Kasey. Female Body And The Mass Media: Perspectives On How Women Internalize
The Ideal Beauty Standard. The Myriad: Westminiseters interactive Academic Journal.
N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.

Vitelli, Romeo, Ph.D. Media Exposure and the Perfect Body. Psychology Today. N.p. 18
Nov. 2013. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.

Wilcox, Kathy. Laird D, James. The Impact of Media Images of Super-Slender Woman on
Womens Self-Esteem: Identification, Social Comparison, and Self-Preception.
ScienceDirect. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.