Body image is how a person sees his or her own body while Beauty standards refers to the ‘ideal’ beauty established by the society. Both terms have become dangerous to all the sexes. Most specially, women and according to a study made by DoSomething.Org, 91% of women are not satisfied with their own appearance. Today, I am going to share my story on how these terms affected me. Growing up as a girl who is being exposed to media representation of a perfect body or face, it made a huge toll on me. I have seen various advertisements on television about having a fair skin and a sexy body. Social media presented me a lot of videos on beauty hacks and skincare. At first, I was not persuaded but through the years, it made me curious on how this stuff will make me more beautiful. As I grow older, it affected me negatively. I came to a point where I am so conscious about my skin, it lead me to compare myself with other girls. Little did I know, I was already making unnecessary purchase of various skincare products. I have tried almost everything but it didn’t work. After every skincare trial, it made me anxious that I reached that time where I don’t want to show my face to other people like I walk facing the ground. I feel awkward when somebody praises my appearance because I always tell myself, I am not really beautiful. There was also a time when I heard one of my male classmates compared me to another female classmate. It hurt me and I become more intimidated by other beautiful girls. I become envious whenever I see a pretty girl in our school or in public. Since then, I lost my confidence because I was never really happy with my appearance specially when I see myself in front of the mirror, I only see my flaws. In terms of my body, I used to hate my broad shoulders and flat chest. People would always mock me about these even my friends would always throw insulting jokes that lead me to think that I want to cut my shoulders off. To be honest, I became a recipient of these unrealistic standards that subconsciously affected my mental health. It seems like I allowed it by letting the media and societal norms change the way I view myself.
But one day, one song changed my perspective. ‘Scars to your Beautiful’ by Alessia Cara, talks about seeing beauty beyond the surface. It featured women living with different kinds of beauty and it made me think that there is no such thing as an ‘ideal’ body and face. We are all different and from that day up to now, I am learning to embrace my own beauty.