Beauty standards are mostly unrealistic stereotypes upheld by culture, the media, or society. Many times, people expect you to look a certain way – be of a certain height, have a certain hip size, have a certain skin tone, and even certain shoe size. Many times, it makes people who are not those things to feel inferior or less beautiful. It also makes people think you are odd when you tell them you are not obsessed with making yourself look like the “standard.”

Over time, we have come to agree that beauty is highly subjective. We even say things like Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This goes to say that what I find beautiful or attractive may not necessarily be what you find beautiful or are attracted to. This is one of the biggest reasons why I think beauty standards are utterly ridiculous. I mean, if we see things differently, why then should there be a set of unwritten rules and standards on who is beautiful and who is not? And if there should be rules, whose judgement would be the right? Mine? Yours? His? Hers? 

Another thing that makes me dislike beauty standards is that it robs us of our individuality. It chooses to overlook all of our amazing differences and tries to fit us all into one tiny tight box. It is funny because many people usually don’t fit in. And we don’t need that box anyway! The truth is we can’t all look the same. It’s not possible! Imagine if we all look the same? The differences reinforce that variety is the spice of life. How we look is sometimes a cocktail splash of our Dad’s and Mum’s DNA coupled with our environment, how life has treated us, and maybe our skincare routine. When you choose to celebrate a particular body type, complexion, height, hip size, and so on, and exalt them over others,  you are automatically trying to make others who don’t look that way feel less beautiful. It would make some of them question their beauty and even their self-worth. This would propel them to try to fit into that mold just so they will be accepted or seen as beautiful. But that is not cool at all.

In the process of trying to be a certain way, some people have hurt themselves. Some others have spent so much money buying products or undergoing surgical procedures just trying to look like these societal beauty standards. How about we choose to recognize that every one of us is unique and different? How about we choose to appreciate that we cannot all have the same colour of skin, type of hair, or size of hips but we are all beautiful in our way? How about we choose to celebrate people individually? How about we choose to appreciate who they are and how they look like and not try to compare them with unrealistic standards?

There is no one way a woman should look like. There’s no “model” or “ideal” shape, color, or size. There’s no ideal figure, weight, height, or face length. Dear Woman, embrace yourself. Love who you are and choose to accept that you’re beautiful. Stop comparing yourself to what the media tells you to look like or be. Rather, embrace your uniqueness and slay it. The beauty of an individual is in his or her uniqueness.