Beauty Standards Need for Embracing Diversity: Impact on Body Image and Mental Health
Reviewed By | Chinyere "Dr. Chi" Johnson, MD – Family Medicine Physician | BGV Medical Advisor
Beauty standards play a major role in how black women perceive themselves and others. These ideals are typically portrayed as aspirational, but they often fail to reflect the diversity of human appearance — European beauty standards greatly impact black women, and this disconnect can harm our mental health and body image.
With this in mind, it’s important to reframe beauty norms in a way that prioritizes inclusion. This article explores the effects of beauty standards and how embracing diversity on a global scale can help promote self-acceptance.
How Do Beauty Standards Harm Body Image?
Unrealistic beauty standards often lead to negative self-perception, especially for those who feel already excluded from media and society — like black women. These pressures can take a serious toll on both body image and self-esteem.
Media and Advertising
American media and advertising are powerful influencers when it comes to beauty standards.
From magazines to social media platforms, the images presented often depict a limited version of beauty — slim figures, symmetrical facial features, and flawless, fair skin tone, to name a few examples.
These representations create unrealistic expectations for what people should look like to be considered beautiful. Over time, individuals may feel inadequate because they are comparing themselves to unattainable ideals.
Some brands, like Dove, have started embracing body positivity by pushing campaigns that feature models of different shapes, sizes, and ethnicities. However, the impact of decades of exclusionary standards still lingers, and efforts to challenge these ideals often receive pushback.
The Comparison Effect
Societal beauty ideals can damage self-worth, with many feeling pressure to alter their appearance to fit these standards of beauty. Comparison leads to low self-esteem and is sometimes a gateway to harmful behaviors like extreme dieting.
By shifting the focus toward celebrating unique attributes and natural beauty, society can reduce the harmful effects of comparison and help everyone — regardless of race, size, or facial features — love the skin they're in.
Why Is It Important To Celebrate Diversity in the Beauty Industry?
Embracing diversity in the beauty industry is essential for creating a more inclusive and accepting world for black women and other underrepresented groups. By recognizing and valuing different appearances, we can challenge harmful stereotypes and foster a culture of self-love.
Why Representation Matters
Representation in media helps validate diverse experiences. It requires genuine inclusion that celebrates different ethnicities, body types, and abilities. When people see individuals who look like them in magazines, movies, and advertisements, they feel understood. Authentic representation can inspire confidence and combat feelings of isolation.
For instance, campaigns featuring models with disabilities, various skin tones, natural hair textures, and multiple body types challenge the idea that being a beautiful woman is limited to having fair skin, straight hair, full lips, and an hourglass figure.
This growing movement within the beauty industry helps redefine American beauty as a concept that includes everyone.
Cultural Expressions of Beauty
From traditional clothing to specific hairstyles, beauty practices tend to reflect cultural identities and histories.
Embracing the significance of Indigenous regalia or African hair braiding traditions, for example, shows how diverse beauty is on a global scale. Highlighting various perspectives in beauty standards encourages individuality.
How Do Unrealistic Beauty Ideals Affect Mental Health?
Rigid beauty standards can also impact an individual's mental health. Many people experience stress, anxiety, and depression as they struggle to meet impossible expectations.
The Pressure To Be Perfect
Striving for perfection can lead to significant mental health struggles. People who feel their value is tied to their physical appearance may develop anxiety, eating disorders, or suffer from body dysmorphia.
This pressure can also lead to social withdrawal, with individuals feeling ashamed for not meeting societal expectations regarding what an “ideal body” is. Addressing this issue means reinforcing the idea that beauty is multifaceted, with no specific definition.
The Role of Social Media
Social media can both challenge and reinforce beauty standards. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok often showcase heavily filtered images that have been edited in Photoshop. This creates a sense of inadequacy for many users, especially teenagers who follow popular figures online.
Young people may feel pressure to purchase expensive beauty products, get plastic surgery, or make other harmful lifestyle adjustments to look like their favorite celebrities or the supermodels they see represented in the latest edition of Vogue.
Final Thoughts
When societal ideals exclude diversity, they can harm the self-esteem of young girls and perpetuate unhealthy comparisons. Embracing diversity is not just a step toward inclusivity — it’s a commitment to celebrating uniqueness. By challenging stereotypes, society can foster healthier perceptions of beauty that uplift underrepresented groups.
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Sources:
The Dove Self-Esteem Project | Dove
Why Representation Matters and Why It’s Still Not Enough | Psychology Today
American Indian Powwows | Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) | NHS
Beauty and Body Image Concerns Among African American College Women | PMC