Nishi Patel

Professor Suzanne Thomas

UWRT 1104
15 November 2016
Beauty in Society
In todays society beauty is seen as an external factor. When people talk about what
beauty means to them they tend to think about the appearance aspect of it instead of the internal
factors. Most people in todays generation look up to figures like Kim Kardashian and Gigi
Hadid, who have unrealistic bodies that they have attained through various processes, such as
plastic surgery and transplants. Along with the self-esteem issues women have because of the
way they view themselves, women also have to deal with the men in society and vice versa. Men
expect women to have a certain figure or certain traits to fulfil their desires, but not everyone
looks like Kendall or Kylie Jenner. Overall our culture pressurizes women into being beautiful
by setting a high beauty standard.
To start off, in an article in The New Yorker called A First-Rate Girl: The Problem of
Female Beauty, the author talks about how one of her friends only dates attractive women. This
state of mind can be seen as shallow but can also be justified as being appropriate because
women should be attractive or have a nice body in order to satisfy mens needs. Men tend to treat
attractive women in a different way than those who are not as attractive. Better looking women
are given multiple unfair advantages that are cannot be justified. More men tend to put their trust
into more attractive women. Along with trusting women who are attractive, there are higher
expectations in place for the better looking individuals because people believe in the beauty-isgoodness principle, which discusses the theory that more attractive people are better overall,

including intelligence, kindness, and overall personality. This principle has developed because of
stereotypes and the predisposition people have of beautiful people.
The purpose of condoning research on such a commonly discussed topic is to create a
realization to the women and men in society of how biased our society is and how that can
negatively impact the health and well-beings of women. In the documentary, Beauty in the Eyes
of the Beheld, different women talk about the harmful effects that pressures of being beautiful
has had on them. The girls in this video talk about the different effects that the pressures of
remaining thin have had on them. One of the girls mentioned in the videos talks about how she
had an eating disorder for a long time because of what she thought was the definition of beautiful
because of what her parents, peers and celebrities portrayed for her to look like. A few eating
disorders that are caused by the pressures of being beautiful are anorexia nervosa and bulimia
nervosa. In anorexia nervosa, the individual losses appetite for food and they obsessively desire
to lose weight to the point where they will refuse to eat. Whereas in bulimia nervosa, the
individual tends to overeat which causes their body image to distort. According to Mirasol, an
eating disorder treatment program, one in two hundred American women suffer from anorexia
and two to three in one hundred American women suffer from bulimia. The major reason these
disorders are present pretty often is because of the superficial image of beauty and the mindset
that being thin will make a person more beautiful.
Tons of people tend to be so self-conscious that they are willing to change themselves to
fit their own definition and others definition of beauty. This form of trying to adapt to a new
personality to fit in or to match a certain group of people is referred to as the Cinderella Effect.
Low self-esteem is often caused by not feeling accepted by others and not feeling good enough.
In the article, The Imposition of Beauty by Razan Niclescu, a research associate at the

University College in London, a women named Luana tells her story about how she was rejected
by her fianc because of the way she looked and that people believed that they did not look good
with each other. Because of this her engagement was called off and her family was disappointed.
So in order to better herself and to be accepted by society she decided to change herself. She
started to go to the gym and exercising more. She learned how to look better because this is what
she believed she needed in order to be successful in society.
Beauty is seen as a basic need of life and this is affecting the lives of women every day.
Our culture is constantly putting a pressure on beauty because of the way generations have been
displaying the importance of beauty. Advertisements and celebrities portray women in a way that
sets unrealistic expectations. According to the article Judging a Book by Its Cover: Beauty and
expectations in the Trust Game, by Rick Wilson, a political scientist, We find that attractive
subjects gain a beauty premium in that they are trusted at higher rates. This is an important
reason as to why women tend to want to seem more attractive. There are multiple advantages
when it comes to being beautiful in society. But along with all these advantages and perks that
are constantly being identified, there are high amounts of consequences that must be considered.
Beauty is not everything especially when it comes to the negative effects it has. With
beauty comes high amounts of pressure to maintain that perfect figure or to maintain a high
status of either wealth, intelligence etc. People do not just admire ones external beauty and leave
it there. They tend to expect more.
Over the past decades the image of beauty has evolved and has been transformed into a
more superficial image. Before in the 1800s women were expected to be chubbier because that is
what beauty was and that was a healthier image of beauty, but today they expect women to be
thin, thick and curvy and that is just not a possible image for every girl to maintain. Overall,

society has developed a certain mindset when it comes to the topic of beauty and the pressures
placed on it that is just impossible to live a healthy and happy lifestyle with.
The topic of beauty seems to be on everyones mind whether they just woke up and are
getting ready or are just casually walking to class. But to me this topic has been especially
important since I got to college. In high school, I used to dress up every day and wear makeup.
Wearing makeup made me feel more confident in myself. But in college I do not have time to get
ready in the mornings or I cannot wear makeup all the time, so I go bare face often. Personally I
suffer from some major acne. Although it has gotten better I still get acne quite often and having
friends who constantly point that out affects me and lowers my self-esteem. The friends I have
made in college although they are amazing people all they seem to care about is beauty. They
have a certain standard that they believe girls should live up to. But they do not understand that
true beauty comes from within. They are still immature and believe that girls should be curvy in
order to seem attractive, along with good looks. But not all girls have those things and I used to
believe that was okay. So constantly hearing about these topics I have multiple questions about
why beauty seems to be everything. I believe that ones personality should be the sole
determination of how you treat someone.
Not only are my college friends judgmental, but so were tons of people in my high
school. People would date a certain person simply based on the way they look. If you were not
up to their beauty standards, then they would not even take a second glance at you or even
acknowledge you. Also there were groups of friends who were just friends with people who were
pretty and rich. Although it was never said, it was socially understood that in order to become
friends with those people you must have good looks. But why must friendship be based on the
way a person looks? Is that how shallow society has become that people will not even talk to the

sweetest person just because they may not be the most attractive person? Discrimination based
on looks has been something I have been witnessing for a long time. Not only did this happen
within my high school but outside as well in my own friend group. I had a friend group of nine
girls and out of these nine girls only four of them would typically hang out with each other and
our guys friends would solely spend most of their time with them. All the guys would go after
those four girls and it was obvious why. Beauty. All my friends are beautiful inside and outside
but the inner part tends to be covered by the external factors.
But beauty standards are not only a major issue for females, but it is also an issue for
males. Although it is not as major for men as it for women. Men deal with self-esteem issues as
well. Many men feel the need to look masculine in order to be considered a true man. The selfesteem issues in both genders typically start during adolescence. More than forty percent of boys
middle school and high school exercise regularly so that they are able to gain muscles. They start
at such a young age trying to impress those around them. Along with the idea of looking
masculine, females judge men based on looks as well. Personally, I do naturally judge what type
of person a guy will be based on the way he looks. If he is built and has attractive I will think
that he is confident in himself and would love to get to know him better. But if a guy is scrawny
and not as attractive I will automatically think differently of him.
This whole acceptance based on judgement can be seen as an aspect of human nature. No
matter how kind a person is or how hard we try to not to judge others based on their looks it is
extremely difficult not to. We tend to be more attracted to, not only people who are attractive, but
also pretty objects. Beauty and appearance play such a huge part in whether or not we are willing
to put faith into a person or accept them. This unfortunate behavior can extremely be seen in
fraternities and sororities in college. A lot of fraternities and sororities have a certain look that

they have for themselves and incoming members do not match that look then they are not
accepted. This is just outrageous. Judging strangers on the road naturally versus denying
someone a place in a social group because they are not attractive enough is not acceptable.
As mentioned earlier, the pressures that come along with beauty can be too much to
handle for some people. We already addressed the amount of eating disorders present in the
female community due to the image they want to maintain. But this same issue is prevalent in the
male society also. It is not as wide scale but still plays a huge role. About 10 million men suffer
from eating disorders in the United States, which can be compared to the 20 million women who
suffer. A huge problem with this is that not just are they suffering psychologically, but it can also
led to depression, obsessive exercise, anxiety, and even steroid usage. Thirty-eight percent of
boys in middle and high school reported use protein supplements and about six percent admitted
to using steroids.
In every little thing we do we tend to find beauty. People say that they do not judge
people or that they are willing to accept people for who they truly are. But most people cannot
deny the fact of a creepy looking unattractive girl came up to them to become friends they would
turn the other way. We as humans tend to find goodness in attractiveness and threat in certain
unattractiveness. Everyone wants to be accepted in society and in order to be approved of
socially people tend to change themselves to form to these societal norms. The feeling of
inferiority starts to develop during the middle school stage because that is when people start to
date and boys and girls actually start judging people based on the way they dress or the way they
look.
I talk about how it is human nature to judge a book by its cover. But we do not see how
this is actually an important aspect of human nature and not only do we do this with people but

we also do it with daily functions. For example, when we go to the grocery store we purchase a
certain fruit based on the way it looks and the shape it has. So, as humans we are not judgmental
because we are all shallow in some way, but because this natural instinct of judgment can protect
us or help influence our actions in a positive way.
According to DoSomething.org, a global movement that consists of 5.5 million young
people to make a positive change, over seventeen percent of girls, mostly girls around the ages of
fifteen to seventeen, avoid normal activities because they feel bad about the way they look. They
feel so bad about the way that they look that they are willing to skip school just to avoid social
interaction. Along with low feelings of self-esteem come harmful activities such as cutting,
smoking, etc. Seventy-five percent of girls tend to engage in these activities because of this
problem. This is actually a huge number and tons of girls start engaging in these activities
simply based on the way they feel about themselves because they belief that they do not conform
to societal norms and looks. This number can be compared to just twenty-five percent of girls
who do have high self-esteems. These numbers are on two completely different ends of the
spectrum showing how much the pressure of looking beautiful is affecting people, especially
young girls.
From conducting research on this topic, an aspect that relates to beauty that I never
considered was how the sense of sight is the sense we react most through. Eighty-two percent of
reactions are through the sense of sight. So when considering the aspect of beauty and how we
are more attracted to those things that seem beautiful., it makes sense. If most of our reactions
are produced through our sight, then obviously we would like to look at objects and people that
please us. Another major part of our sight sense is that it is an essential part of non-verbal
communication. Fifty-five percent of communication is based on body language and expression.

So if by the way someone presents themselves or by the way someone looks they give off a
confident personality, then this will make them physically more attractive.
The reason that people tend to predetermine the greatness of beauty is because of ideas
and people they have been encountered with in the past. For example, if a person meets with an
attractive person and they turn out to have a decent personality. Then the individual will have a
predisposition of a person with the same physical appearance and automatically assume that they
will consist of the same type of personality and automatically have more faith in one stranger
passing by them on their way to class than on another individual who may not seem physically
attractive at all.
Overall, I have mentioned the harmful effects that being pressurized into looking a
certain way can have not only on young females, but all genders of all ages. Everyone has a
certain image they believe they should be able to live up to because that is what society has set
for that age group to look like. Beauty is an important aspect of society because when we first
see a person our eyes is the only factor used in the judgement of a person and as explained earlier
in this essay the beauty is goodness phenomenon is because the more attractive a person is the
more satisfaction our senses are receiving. Along with that, in the work field a person, who may
be more attractive, may be seen as a more trustable employee just because body language is an
essential part to communication. Although as stressful and harmful the pressures of either
becoming beautiful or the pressures of remaining beautiful, they can be justified by the natural
instincts present in humans. So next time you find yourself questioning how you can please that
boy you like? Or are wondering why you are not as pretty as the girl next to you? Just remember
everyone views beauty through a different perception and changing oneself to conform to a
certain image is falling into the pressures society presents for the image of false beauty.

Works Cited

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Nicolas, Razvan. The Imposition of Beauty. Social Media in Southeast Italy:
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www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1gxxpdq.9.
Patzer, Gordon L. The Physical Attractiveness Phenomena. New York: Division of
Plenum Corporation, 1985. Print.
Waldman, Adelle. "A First-Rate Girl: The Problem of Female Beauty." The New
Yorker. N.p., 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.
Wilson, Rick K., and Catherine C. Eckel. Judging a Book by Its Cover:
Beauty and Expectations in the Trust Game.Political Research Quarterly, vol.
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"11 Facts About Teens and Self Esteem." DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social
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"Research on Males and Eating Disorders." National Eating Disorders Association.
N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.