Cosmetics Are Only Skin Deep

It is not uncommon to hear females make seemingly harmful jokes about someones
appearance. They may have been unconsciously trained by the media and society to think of
beauty in a certain way. Having flawless skin and an ideal weight is considered attractive in
todays society. Females are influenced to wear makeup to hide their imperfections and be slim
to be considered sexy. I started wearing makeup when I first entered high school. I never felt
comfortable in my own skin because I constantly reminded myself that people would like me
more if I looked like the perfect girls in movies and commercials. Wearing makeup was my
shortcut to self-confidence. Its amazing how a black line of eyeliner could make me feel better
about myself. But the media had convinced me that wearing makeup and fixing my flaws was
what I was supposed to do as a female. There is an extensive amount of pressure put onto how
women are expected to appear. Mass media in the United States of America influences
adolescent females to conform to the accepted standards of beauty.
Females are expected to look perfect due to societal norms. These expectations can result
in low self-esteem and girls relying on cosmetic products to make them look better. As a society,
the young women of the United States of America are exposed to the various commercials and
advertisements that contribute to the idea of unrealistic standards of beauty. The media worships
celebrities that are beyond compare when it comes to their looks. Cosmetic companies often
convey a message that someone can only look beautiful by using their products. Advertisements
are famous for photo shopping women to appear polished and perfect. As long as the media
continues to teach adolescent girls that beauty is defined by the lack of imperfections a person
has, girls will be pressured to follow the guidelines for beauty.
What is the definition of beauty? Beauty is an idea; it is ever-changing. Because the
standards of beauty fluctuates so frequently, it is near impossible to maintain absolute beauty in
the eyes of society. These unrealistic demands result in adolescent females feeling insufficient
and insecure about themselves. Dr. Elayne A. Saltzberg got her postdoctoral clinical psychology
degree at Yale University School of Medicine. She specializes in eating disorders and now runs a
practice in Massachusetts. Joan C. Chrisler is a professor of psychology at Connecticut College
and has written many papers about feminist psychology. Saltzberg and Chrisler state that,
Women often believe that if only they had perfect looks, their lives would be perfectly happy;
they blame their unhappiness on their bodies. They also conclude that America is most affected
by the standards of beauty put in place by society. They state, For them [American women],
being female means feeling fat and inadequate and living with chronic low self-esteem.
1
This
unhappiness in females lead them to easily fall victim to the propaganda that mass media
advertises.
Adolescent female Americans are consistently subjected to propaganda that mass media
displays. The constant exposure to certain images of the ideal beauty may have negative effects
on how women view their bodies. Dr. Pavica Sheldon has a Ph.D. in communication studies and
is an assistant professor at Louisiana State University. She talks about how long term exposure to
medias representation of beauty, such as being thin, can have dire consequences on young
females. This accepted idea of women needing a thin body has driven numerous college women
to resort to eating disorder. Sheldon inquires, The degree to which a person is influenced by
media messages about the physical ideal appearance was the most important predictor of overall

1
Chrisler, Joan C. and Elayne A. Saltzberg. Beauty Is the Beast: Psychological Effects of the Pursuit of the Perfect
Female Body. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1995.
body dissatisfaction.
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The perfect women portrayed in television and magazines creates an
unachievable comparison for young women.
What young females in America absorb from media images of perfect women, affects
how they think of themselves and how they live their lives. They may be influenced to lose
weight or apply lots of makeup. According to The New York Times, They [people] invest so
much of their resources in beauty and risk so much for it, one would think that lives depended on
it. Women spend excessive amounts of money on cosmetic products to maintain their sense of
perfection. The New York Times goes on to say, In the United States more money is spent on
beauty than on education or social services. The media advertises that makeup is essential for
sex appeal. Females are brainwashed to accept the standards of beauty that are displayed in
magazines and television. They are influenced to look up to specific models with the ideal thin
female body. The article talks about how striving for beauty, as well as comparing ourselves to
other individuals has become a natural response. It states, We can create a big bonfire with
every issue of Vogue, GQ, and Details, every image of Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Cindy
Crawford, and still, images of youthful perfect bodies would take shape in our heads and create a
desire to have them.
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Young females see these images and they are pressured to mimic them.
But is the media to blame for our distorted view of beauty? Is it the reason so many
young girls try to fit in by changing themselves? There are many arguments saying that the
media doesnt influence how women perceive themselves. Dr. Natalie Beausoleil is an associate
professor of social science and health at Memorial University. She argues, The analysis of
images and representations produces women as victims. She also adds, Women are not simply

2
Sheldon, Pavica. Pressure To Be Perfect: Influences on College Students Body Esteem. Southern
Communication Journal. (2010).
3
Etcoff, Nancy. Survival of the Prettiest. The New York Times, 1999.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/e/etcoff-prettiest.html
manipulated by images in the mass media.
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Beausoleil reveals that women are not blindly
accepting the propaganda that the media advertises to them. They are capable of critically
analyzing the media and deciding for themselves. Beausoleil believes that women are not
mindless robots that follow what society says, but that women can make their own decision
about whether to conform to the accepted standards of beauty. This counter argument brings up
good points, but it doesnt account for the fact that most females are exposed to the media
representation of sexy women at a young age. They arent able to critically analyze all of the
messages they receive from the media. Not only the media pressures girls, but friends and family
may follow the standards of beauty which can make the girls feel obligated to conform.
The way media represents beauty has many effects on the adolescent female population
in America. When did the media start promoting how women should look? Was it a gradual
thing just to make more profit? Because of this strong influence, it may be impossible for women
to break out of the female roles that have been put on them. Even if women tried to make a
difference in the way media exhibits beauty, it would be hard to change how numerous people
think. There may be small organizations and campaigns against conforming to beauty standards,
but it doesnt make a difference on a larger scale. Due to the long term damage of the media, it
would be near impossible to alter how people think of beauty.
I become a victim to the pressures of society, but support and encouragement from my
loved ones allowed me to find my own beauty. I am now able to critically analyze the medias
representation of how women are expected to look. While I still use cosmetics on a regular basis,

4
Beausoleil, Natalie. Makeup in Everyday Life. An Inquiry into the Practices of Urban American Women of Diverse
Backgrounds.http://books.google.com/books?id=VadK839gnrAC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=Makeup+in+Everyday+
Life:+An+Inquiry+into+the+Practices+of+Urban+American+Women+of+Diverse+++Backgrounds&source=bl&ots=6H
fGsPNroy&sig=4TxAw1zBT4TFygdMwGW7FcZ56h4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YqBDU6hFjpTSAabQgZgD&ved=0CCsQ6AEwA
A#v=onepage&q=media&f=false
I dont solely depend on them to give me confidence. Women are held responsible for looking
their best. It has been expected for many decades now that females aim to please men by being
slim and flawless. This high expectation leads women, especially adolescent women to feel
insecure about their appearance. The lower the self-esteem of a person, the more susceptible they
are to change themselves for others. Changing ones self to please others is a common practice in
college women. The media has some control over why women conform to the standards of
society. But we cannot ignore the evidence that media has become a bigger influence to how
women live their lives than it has in the past. Instead of finding beauty in themselves, adolescent
women in America use cosmetic products and unhealthy weight loss to create beauty to fit into
the unrealistic standards forced upon them. People may never be able to change how beauty is
defined in the media in America. As long as the media portrays flawless women as the correct
way to look, females will be pressured to follow the norm that media created and society
constantly reinforces.