Women have been subjected to such unachievable beauty standards that most of them have some or other inferiority complex about their appearance. Be it skin, hair, body type, nails, or smile, there is a stereotype about everything related to the physical appearance of a woman, and God forbid, she does not fit the mould, she is not considered beautiful. Women have to unlearn a lot of things that have been told to them since childhood about their appearance. I recently came across a Reddit thread that asked women about the beauty standard that affected them the most, and the responses were nearly heartbreaking and relatable!
The question was asked on the Ask Women channel on Reddit where women shared the beauty standard that affected them the most. One of the most common that most women came to agree on was that ageing was considered bad, and severely affected them. One of the women said that she is in her 30s and had an ‘existential crisis’ when said that they looked like a ‘grown woman’. Another said that men can age however they like and no one will ever tell them that they old older.
A lot of women also went on to say that the expectation of having no body hair also affected them very much. I would like to blame the heavy advertisement of hair removal creams and machines for this. They have instilled in the minds of women that having body hair is bad.
Another woman said that how women are expected to be thin but curvey at the same time. This body type is practically impossible to achieve because it is literally measurement specific.
Another beauty standard that most women struggled with was having huge breasts. Breast size is not something one can choose, it is picked naturally by the body. But there is practically no representation of women with small boobs.
Women on Reddit also agreed that women’s clothes are made with the intention of highlighting their figure which a lot of them are not comfortable with.
A lot of women also agreed that a certain nose shape had them worrying over theirs. Women with perfect noses are considered beautiful.
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These are some of the most common beauty standards that have traumatised women everywhere in the world. Women are constantly made to feel that they are not perfect or that they need to change something about their appearance to look perfect. I am so glad that women today are slowly not giving a rat’s ass about such beauty standards, and wearing whatever they feel like.