Here’s the issue. All of us, no matter how self-confident, compare the highlights of other people’s lives, with the entirety of our own lives. This creates a riff in reality. How could we compare all our flaws, problems, and insecurities, with the very small snippets of accomplishments other people choose to share via social media?
But it happens. As my classmate Kelly pointed out, in college, girls are encouraged to spend more time trying to be pretty than to study hard. Obviously I’m not trying to make hasty generalizations here, but that seems to be the general consensus, according to many of Kelly’s sources. It’s a known fact made clear by society that girls take longer to get ready, that they should try to be just like every other girl on TV with the perfect life. This is the new reality that societal forces have been trying to impose on us.
Back then without the use of social media, I wonder if women still felt the same pressure to fit into these ridiculous gender roles. It would be interesting to find ways to compare self worth then versus now. Perhaps a survey of how women felt about their body would give an indication to further Kelly’s question of whether or not social media has broadened the promotion of unrealistic female “goals.”
It’s funny. I would have thought that social media would allow people to see more diverse types of beauty, since it makes it so much easier to share pictures and statuses. Though the number of interactions has increased, the definition of a one-size-fits-all beauty standard has been reduced to almost nothing.
On the flip side, men have also been facing an unrealistic need to always be “masculine” and to hide emotions. For some people, all they talk about is how to get better results at the gym, and they ridicule others for being “weak”. “Grow a pair” or “that’s gay” is casually thrown around in day to day conversation when the phrases themselves hold so much controversy. I’m sure you all have considered this before, but what’s wrong with being gay? And why does one have to be strong by being a “man?”
At the end of the day, we all have unrealistic beauty standards brought upon us by the increased use of social media. And if people want to continue striving after what they call perfection, who am I to say that they shouldn’t? But, if you’re feeling bad about yourself because of comparisons amongst your peers or idols, I’m here to say that it doesn’t have to be that way. Beauty is not one-dimensional.