There are many truths that we are told throughout our lives, whether it be by friends and family or strictly through the media this is clearly evident in the idea of beauty standards for both men and women. Beauty standards are heavily reinforced throughout the mainstream media creating idealistic standards that we believe to be true due to constant reminders throughout the media. In particular, this occurs throughout social media specifically. Many social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok often feature pictures and videos of people with seemingly perfect physical features which helps to reinforce the beauty standards of different times. However, this may be due to the over usage of filters and photo editing tools in order to enhance their own appearance and how people portray themselves online. This can cause problems in many ways. Firstly, not only does this create an unrealistic beauty standard for consumers of this type of media which may lead to these audience members having a low self esteem due to body dissatisfaction and desire a body that is unachievable. But, it also causes problems for the people editing their own photos as it reveals how they may also be unsatisfied with their bodies so they feel the need to change the way they present themselves to people online. There are many examples of this in the media with the idea of social media vs reality being a topic of discussion itself, however social media is not the only type of media that reinforce these beauty standards.
Men and women are both heavily influenced by what they see in the media, whether it be on a magazine cover, on a billboard or a social media post we all are subjected to view these unrealistic beauty standards. One example of this is a recent study conducted in 2021 in Bradley University which suggested that over 1000 Americans believe that the ideal women would be 5'5 and 128lbs with a 26 inch waist, which these measurements are nearly incapable to match. This study suggests that there is clearly a beauty standard set by society. There is no denying that plenty of magazines help to reinforce these ideologies. One magazine in particular that reinforces these beliefs is the Men's Health magazines, in particular this cover featuring Anthony Joshua. This magazine cover portrays all of the ideas of of what a man should look like. This can be shown through the use of the copy "BEST BODY EVER" which suggests that the ideal for what a man should look like is tall, dark and muscular. These characteristics are very prominent of the representation of men throughout the media, as these characteristic suggest on what it is to be a "man". Although there are many plus sized models who challenge these idealistic beauty standards the majority of the media today still portrays them. Due to this it will be very hard for this myth to be broken down due to how deep rooted this damaging standard is in our society, as it may be too late for these standards to be set at more realistic rate.
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