The ways in which cultural norms and expectations of physical appearance shape our understanding of beauty, self-worth, and gender identity, and how these norms reinforce gender inequality.
Patriarchy: The system of societal and cultural privilege granted to men that contributes to the objectification and marginalization of women's bodies.
Objectification: The process of reducing a person to a mere object for instrumental use or sexual gratification, often through media representation.
Beauty standards: The unrealistic and constantly changing standards of physical appearance that women are expected to meet, which often include thinness, youthfulness, and white features.
Intersectionality: A feminist concept that explores the ways race, sexuality, class, and other forms of identity intersect and contribute to the ways that beauty standards are imposed and experienced.
Fatphobia: Social stigma and discrimination against individuals who are overweight or obese, which often leads to the exclusion and marginalization of these individuals from dominant beauty standards.
Body positivity: A movement that promotes the appreciation and celebration of bodies of all shapes, sizes, and abilities, as well as the rejection of narrow and harmful beauty standards.
Sexual objectification: The reduction of a person to their sexual value, often resulting in harmful and dehumanizing treatment.
Beauty industry: The multibillion-dollar industry that perpetuates and profits off of narrow beauty standards by selling products and services aimed at remedying perceived flaws in appearance.
Body modification: The conscious effort to alter one's body, often through cosmetic surgery or diet and exercise, in order to meet socially constructed beauty standards.
Ableism: The societal and cultural privileging of able-bodied individuals, which often results in the exclusion and marginalization of individuals with disabilities from dominant beauty standards.
Thinness: Thinness is a widely recognized standard of beauty that can lead to the promotion of disordered eating and negative body image.
Whiteness: The Eurocentric beauty standard deems white women as the ideal standard of beauty, entailing features like straight hair and pale skin.
Ableism: Beauty standards rooted in ableism scrutinize and shun disabilities or any signs of difference from the norm under the guise of “normal.”.
Ageism: Ageism involves beauty standards that promote youthful looks and ostracizes older women.
Beauty products and cosmetics: Beauty products marketed towards women often contribute to the development of self-esteem issues, low self-worth, and toxicity, promoting unrealistic beauty standards.
Gender identity: Beauty standards are often based on societal expectations of femininity, which can lead to the marginalization of transgender women, those who identify as non-binary, and those who challenge gender norms.