Is the "feminine beauty ideal" genuinely harmful, in some sense, to women? - Or is its supposed harmfulness generally just made-up Tumblr bullshit?

[Iwasamwillbe]

From Wikipedia, making it pretty much an authentic summary of the modern feminist beliefs about this:

Feminine beauty ideal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Pressure to conform to a certain definition of "beautiful" can have psychological effects, such as depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem, starting from an adolescent age and continuing into adulthood.

Basically, excessive pressure to look good can cause mental disorders.

Advertisements for products "such as diets, cosmetics, and exercise gear [help] the media construct a dream world of hopes and high standards that incorporates the glorification of slenderness and weight loss."

Slenderness and weight loss are "glorified" by the unrealistic beauty standards the media puts on women.

With a focus on an ideal physical appearance, the feminine beauty ideal distracts from female competency by prioritizing and valuing superficial characteristics related to beauty and appearance. When physical beauty is idealized and featured in the media, it reduces women to sexualized objects. This creates the message across mass media that one's body is inadequate apart from sex appeal and connects concepts of beauty and sex.

When female beauty is idealized, it is apparently necessarily at the expense to the valuing of the female's actual ability, and makes women out to be mere sex objects.

The Dove Beauty and Confidence Report interviewed 10,500 females across thirteen countries and found that women's confidence in their body image is steadily declining - regardless of age or geographic location. Despite these findings, there is a strong desire to fight existing beauty ideals. In fact, 71% of women and 67% of girls want the media to do a better job of portraying different types of women. Studies done by Dove reveal low self esteem impacts women and girls' ability to release their true potential. 85% of women and 79% of girls admit they opt out of important life activities when they do not feel confident in the way they look. More than half of women (69%) and girls (65%) allude to pressure from the media and advertisements to become the world's version of beautiful, which is a driving force of appearance anxiety. Studies done by Dove have also revealed the following statistics: "4% of women consider themselves beautiful, 11% of girls globally are comfortable with describing themselves as beautiful, 72% of girls feel pressure to be beautiful, 80% of women agree that every woman has something about her that is beautiful, but do not see their own beauty, and that 54% of women agree that when it comes to how they look, they are their own worst beauty critic."

I have a weird feeling those statistics are bugged in some way.

According to evidence gathered from a study focusing on general Instagram use in young women, researchers suggest Instagram usage was positively correlated with women’s self-objectification.

Self-objectification is now a thing.

In addition to researching the effects of general Instagram use, the study also researched the effects of "fitspiration" Instagram pages on young women's body image. “Fitspiration” pages aim to motivate the viewer through images of healthy eating and exercising. Although these pages aim to be a positive way to promote a healthy lifestyle, they are also appearance-based and contain images of toned and skinny women. According to the study, there is a positive correlation to young women’s viewing "fitspiration" pages and a negative body image.

I would like to make a query about when a fitness anything has ever not been appearance-based, and how a fitness anything could be not appearance-based, and why a fitness anything should not be appearance based.

Feminine beauty ideals have shown correlations to many psychological disorders, including lowered self-esteem and eating disorders. Western cultural standards of beauty and attractiveness promote unhealthy and unattainable body ideals that motivate women to seek perfection.

Apparently, Western cultural beauty standards basically cause a wide range of psychological problems in women, including lowered self-esteem and eating disorders.

Because Western cultural beauty standards are too unattainable and "perfect", and therefore unhealthy.

This article talking point is basically repeated here:

There is significant pressure for girls to conform to feminine beauty ideals, and, since thinness is prized as feminine, many women feel dissatisfied with their body shape. Body dissatisfaction has been found to be a precursor to serious psychological problems such as depression, social anxiety, and eating disorders.

Oh and uh...

One aspect of the feminine beauty ideal includes having a thin waist, which is causing women to participate in these alarming behaviors. When trying to achieve these impossible standards, these dangerous practices are put into place.

Apparently, having a thin waist is an "impossible standard".

So what do you guys think? Is any part of this article true or accurate in your opinion?

 

[Marco Fucko]

This feels played out. Are women seriously still bitching about Barbie and bulimic models?

 

[JULAY]

"Perceived social pressure to get laid can have psychological effects that turn some males into incels, such as depression, low self-esteem, and extreme misogyny starting from an adolescent age and continuing into adulthood."

See, when you put it that way, it becomes pretty obvious what a re.tarded proposition this is...

 

[r00]

What do they actually want everyone to do about these unrealistic beauty standards? Are we supposed to start ignoring the pretty girls and lying to the unattractive ones about how nice they are to look at?

This doesnt go down well with most women, but beauty standards are perpetuated mostly by other women.
If women en masse just stopped caring so much about clothing, waxing and dieting, im pretty sure it wouldnt be long before most men just rolled with it and carried on as usual.
Have some of you ladies seen the state of yourselves first thing in the morning? Its not a well kept secret that you wear spanks and your eyelashes arent really that thick.

If you are jealous of the other girls because you have a wonky face and they dont, then get over yourself and dont make that the rest of the worlds problem. Youll still be unpleasant to look at compared to others, even if nobody says it directly to your asymmetrical face.

 

[RadicalCentrist]

The "feminine beauty ideal" is perpetuated by women, for women, with a little help from capitalism.

Or that's what I would say twenty years ago, before lol-cial media. If you degrade your life down to the most superficial characteristics for likes, is it really anyone's fault but your own?

 

[RetardedCat]

Women are harmful to women. I've seen dudes willing to bang the ugliest fucking hoes for no apparent reason other than they were their types.
But I've seen women willing to fucking destroy another woman's life just because she wore a better dress at that one party.

I'm pretty sure women are responsible for their own beauty standards, so they're bitching about themselves, as usual.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

Is the masculine usefulness and productivity ideal genuinely harmful in some sense to men?

 

[WW 635]

This is something that only ugly women complain about

 

[Dutch Courage]

I'm tired about hearing about the toxic "Western" ideals of beauty, "Western" patriarchal hierarchies, "Western" lack of diversity, and "Western" cultural insensitivity. People have way too much time on their hands if all they can do is wail about things that won't change and don't need to change.

Have any of these loathers of all things Western ever traveled to Asia, or anywhere in the "Eastern" world? Guess what exists there? Far more stringent ideas of what constitutes beauty (fat Americans are very low on the list), 'patriarchal' (this is a stupid term, but I have to use it) hierarchies that predate America by about 6000 years and are far more ingrained, and cultural insensitivity that includes oppression, discrimination, and even slavery from time to time. Japan and Korea are also very homogeneous, and actively discourage immigration. They frown on diversity.

If you are an angry, ugly fat chick, railing against the West will do you no good. When was the last time you saw an ugly fat chick on the cover of a Japanese or Chinese or Korean magazine? How about never?

Frankly, the West has some of the lowest beauty standards in the world. Fat chicks with neck tattoos are called beautiful by some people here. Not in Asia.

The same goes for hierarchies and cultural sensitivity. I shit you not, you can even buy Li'l Black Sambo knockoff t-shirts in Japan; women think they are "cute". Women are invisible in upper management and rare in parliaments. Grown women are encouraged to look like schoolgirls. Yet, you hear very few complaints about standards of beauty, hierarchies, diversity, and cultural insensitivity there, even privately. Most Asians accept society for what it is, and live perfectly well-adjusted lives.

Can't stand living in oppressive Western society? Try living in Asia. If you aren't concerned with standards of beauty pressures, hierarchies, diversity, and cultural insensitivity, they are very hospitable and nice places to live. If that stuff bothers you, then I really don't know where you can go. Maybe stop obsessing on your looks and instead work on being an attractive person who isn't always bitching about stupid stuff?

 

[Clop]

The Dove Beauty and Confidence Report interviewed 10,500 females across thirteen countries and found that women's confidence in their body image is steadily declining - regardless of age or geographic location. Despite these findings, there is a strong desire to fight existing beauty ideals. In fact, 71% of women and 67% of girls want the media to do a better job of portraying different types of women.

This is the key, here's where the cheese is. Obesity is rising along with female entitlement to get better things without less effort, privileges without responsibilities, like it always has. Every woman wants to be beautiful without doing the work to get there.

I'm wagering that the ~30% of women and girls are either very attractive and get a lot of attention that makes the others fucking fume, or are just genuinely smart and think cosmetics advertisement is a fucking stupid way to judge your own self-worth in the eyes of other people.

 

[Ashenthorn]

Slenderness and weight loss are "glorified" by the unrealistic beauty standards the media puts on women.

It's like they ignore all THICC, PAWG and asstastic IGs that are hugely the trend these days.
THICC is woke, anorexia is broke right now (thankfully).

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

Assuming feminists are on the right trail (they never are) here, beauty standards would only be as "harmful" as one lets them be. Not that someone doing the equivalent of stabbing themselves and crying bloody murder about how horrible knives are would surprise me anyway, particularly coming from these types of people.

I'm sure the feminists would tell you that there's a gun to the head of every woman forcing her to pay mind to these standards, because learned helplessness and affectations of perpetual victimhood have been their bread and butter for a while now.

 

[RG 448]

It’s absolutely harmful and it’s not confined to just one gender either. Conventionally attractive men in good shape can cause extreme psychological distress to those less fortunate. The guilt I feel for my borderline-excessive contribution to that problem keeps me up at night.

 

[Malagor the dank omen]

Women are harmful to women. I've seen dudes willing to bang the ugliest fucking hoes for no apparent reason other than they were their types.
But I've seen women willing to fucking destroy another woman's life just because she wore a better dress at that one party.

I'm pretty sure women are responsible for their own beauty standards, so they're bitching about themselves, as usual.

Damn true. It was a female friend of mine that told me something very important: It's very hard for a man to be misogynistic because i no one hates women more than other women. Men are willing to give sub par chicks a go if they are an easy go or because some strange fixation they might have, and even with that it's ok.

Aside from that, is the beauty standard harmful to women? No. There will always be men that like women "outside the norm". Fatties, tomboys, skinny chicks... It doesn't matter how you are, you will always have a audience that will like you by your physique. And beyond that, someone that will love who you are. Thing is as someone else pointed out, obesity is on the rise and also with the prevalence of social media and e-thots would make some women feel left out of the sweet male attention and therefore generating self steem issues as women percieved as "more attractive" are hogging all the compliments.

I would say social media is far more harmful than beauty standards.

 

[RG 448]

It's very hard for a man to be misogynistic

Really? I’ve never had trouble doing it.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

I would say social media is far more harmful than beauty standards.

It's a lot more difficult to use social media's existence as a cudgel against others, especially when women clearly adore it to the extent they do. Much easier and more expeditious to rally them behind a cause of "Fuck your oppressive standards".

 

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

Beauty is relative. In Africa, for example, the fatter a woman is, the more attractive she is considered (because being fat means you eat more, and if you eat more you must be hella rich). This leads to families fattening up their daughters to make them more attractive to prospective husbands. Similar attitudes prevailed in Tudor-era Europe as well.
Or, y'know, we can go the Muslim route and cover up women head to toe. All women will look the fucking same then.

 

[Diesel Boogaloo]

This feels played out. Are women seriously still bitching about Barbie and bulimic models?

 

[ConfederateIrishman]

I think American Women have just gotten fat tbh; Though American Men have also gotten more fat so I guess it evens out

 

[Surf and TERF]

It’s a bit short sighted to talk about this like it’s a war of the sexes. Both sides have bought into it, that’s all that needs
to be said. Societies tend to value a woman solely for her reproductive value, just as men are valued for their ability to provide.

Reproductive value is expressed by achieving whatever beauty standard the community holds. When the word objectification is used, it’s referring to the importance we place on these standards and how it encourages people as a whole to see women as something to be looked at and to make babies. As a consequence, any other part of their existence (career, personality, ideas) is never noticed or given credit.

Of course there’s an unhealthy pressure. We wouldn’t have things like eating disorders or labia reductions if there wasn’t. It wouldn’t take an extra 40 minutes for a women to get ready to go outside in the morning.

Sure, SJWs contaminate this topic and stop people from wanting to think about it, but it’s not a conspiracy. The issue doesn’t stop
being an issue just because some exceptional individuals touched it.