Rewriting the Idea of Current Beauty Standards

According to the definition of the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, beauty is “the quality of giving pleasure to the senses or to the mind.” 

At times, people in our society vie for beauty, which is often defined by the fairness of one’s skin tone, the slenderness of their body, and even the amount of hair they have. Perhaps that is a natural tendency.

However, what is quite absurd is that today’s youths are trying to enhance this imaginary line of beauty by using AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney etc.

And there has been a relentless drift across social media. Boys and girls are using particular tools to generate images of themselves, but with a different look, and posting them.

They are getting images in which their facial features are kept intact, yet physical appearances are changed according to the given instructions. Consequently, the images that meet an imaginary beauty standard lure many people into using AI to create and follow a fake standard of beauty.

These advancements may look trendy. But, we still fail to see that these advancements have changed how people view themselves and the people around them.

Individuals are adding before-and-after comparison posts and flexing how smooth skin they have achieved and how beautiful physical forms they have got. What goes beyond their seeing is that they are actually lying and belittling the beauty they were born with.

This obsession is not new; growing up in a nuclear family, I have always had helping hands who would reside with us in the same household. One of the most basic amenities they would ask for would be a ‘Fair and Lovely’ cream tube.

This is not something unnatural to me; these unattainable beauty standards have existed for decades. Whitening cream companies now repeatedly advertise their beauty products, highlighting that one can only gain fame if they are fair.

Whereas, to me, beauty cannot have certain standards; every individual is different, and so is their appearance. Therefore, if the idea of beauty is to be presented in a certain way only, this would mean bending the rules of nature as well as creating a racial difference.

The current scenario is alarming. Youths are being lured into using brightening creams that contain ingredients like hydroquinone and mercury.

According to the MN Department of Health, a long exposure to such ingredients may result in various health threats; in the worst cases, it can even cause cancer.

A few years back, a shocking discovery reached the surface: a world-renowned brand that makes skincare products for babies and adults discontinued its whitening range products.

Although their products contained no harmful ingredients, they admitted that they had raised a global debate about racial inequality. 

On social media, many unethical business owners claim that using or consuming such products will make them two to three shades lighter within a few weeks. This causes people to fall into the trap of purchasing and using such products.

The issue transcends capitalism. The ultimate concept that beauty can only be achieved in a certain way has been ingrained deep into human civilisation.

So, when the youth start to idealise it, the cost it bears is not only financial, but it is also a loss of their confidence. So, it is high time today’s youths eschewed this false pursuit of beauty and admired their natural beauty.