She’s beauty and she’s grace. She’s bone pale, 118 pounds, and barely fits into her 5 foot 8 inch body. She’s the one with the thigh gap and the stomach flatter than a board. Her bones are celebrated and are drawn out beneath the catwalk lights. She does not hunger for food; she feeds for the sentiment of envy that festers in the hearts of the young girls who will never look like she does. She is the convoluted, unattainable definition of beauty. Starting at a young age, girls are taught that their worth comes in size only, and that if they don’t fit the standards of the ideal figure, then they are worthless. Recently, society has finally concluded that it’s no longer acceptable to subject girls to the standard of a supermodel type figure that is nearly unattainable, and with this realization, thin is no longer in. Society would be progressing if the discrimination didn’t reverse to the opposite side of the spectrum. Instead of taking a step forward, society has remained in the same position as it has not only overcorrected the issue by placing curvy girls in the spotlight, but also has begun to body shame the thin that was once in. In today’s age, society equates success to perfection, perfection to beauty, and essentially, beauty to atrophy. The narrow minded idealism of beauty promotes the self destructive behavior in the female population.
     

The dominance of media and social networking in today’s society has resulted in girls’ dangerous interactions with the unattainable body standards that eventually lead to automatic comparison and constant scrutiny of their own bodies. For example, Meghan Trainer’s highly praised song “All About that Bass” became the basis of the curvy girl’s community, encouraging body positivity and empowering all girls to love their bodies. While aiming to relay the message that all females are “perfect” regardless of their physique, she states that she’s able to “shake it like she’s supposed to do” because she’s larger than a size two. Rather than broadening the ideal body type, Trainer confines the idealistic body image to the complete opposite end of the spectrum, which ultimately ends up body shaming those who are a size two and causes them to feel like they’re not deserving of validation. Also, although certain campaigns such as “The Real Truth About Beauty” study commissioned by Dove was successful in its attempt to expand the understanding of women, beauty and well- being, publicizing and celebrating the idea that real women have curves suggests that those who don’t have curves aren’t real women. While the campaign depicts society’s progress in the sense that women of different body shapes and colors were accepted and praised, the campaign unintentionally shames others who aren’t curvy. The idealistic characteristics that are encouraged by celebrities contribute to the inability for society to broaden the definition of beauty because the “definition of beauty” is always changing. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, yet society is the eye. Society has taken over the lense that people use to view the world and each other with. Society has set unattainable precedents for females from the moment that they are born until the moment that they die, and while popular culture and the media may be able to inflict desirable changes on society, it’s almost impossible for females to change their physique at all, much less that in the short time period that the standards exist in.
     

Young girls have been taught that they must diet, before they can even spell the word, in the pursuit of the impossible. As weight conscious young girls grow up, they become eating disordered women who swear by a goal weight that is often times too low to be healthy. 1 in 10 of these weight conscious young girls will develop an eating disorder before high school (1). Moreover, 1 in 200 women will be diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa throughout her lifetime. The self- imposed dietary restrictions that occur during Anorexia as a result of such a distorted body image have led Anorexia Nervosa to become the most common cause of death among girls between the ages of 15-24. (2) Anorexia’s ravishing physical, mental and social effects will ultimately deteriorate its host, who is literally dying to be thin, and who points to starvation as the only way to achieve that goal. While Anorexia is generally prevalent in females who long to become overly thin, it is also extremely prevalent in curvy girls who wish for an incredibly small waist and larger hips. The consequences of developing an eating disorder reach far beyond malnourishment. Its physical, mental and biological effects can ultimately lead to organ failure and abnormal bodily functions, which in turn can result in death. The series of unfortunate disorders (anxiety, OCD, and depression, etc.) that often develop as a result of an eating disorder latch onto their host like girl scout patches are glued and displayed across a girl scout’s sash. If young girls are exposed to the dangers of these disorders, then why are they continuously subjecting themselves to such destruction? Females will travel to extremes and will jeopardize their own health and mental sanity in order to morph themselves into someone who is accepted by society. Starvation, binging and purging are viewed as diligent; those who have the “strength” to continuously starve themselves and force themselves to throw up are seen as dedicated individuals, and are looked up to for their compulsive behaviors. The prevalence of pro- eating disorder websites is sickening. An online culture has emerged that “thinspires” and encourages those with eating disorders to continue pursue their goal. The members of these pro- eating disorder websites provide each other with “diet” tips, encouragement to prolong their eating disorder, and images of themselves in order to motivate others not to give up. The self- inflicting and encouraging culture of the eating disorder community has resulted in far too many deaths, and the community will continue to admit its members for as long as society’s definition of beauty remains restricted.
     

In a society where the definition of beauty is always changing, it’s unrealistic for any female to possess “ideal” characteristics for a prolonged period of time, if any time at all. Society cannot continue to pick and choose its standards of the idealistic female at its own convenience. In fact, the female population can not and will not survive if the impact of the idealistic figure continues to dominate their lives. Beauty should not and can not be a body standard; health should equate to beauty. If a woman is healthy, whether it means that she’s 6’1” and 200 pounds or 5’2” and 115 pounds, then she should be beautiful. The predominant and overwhelming influence of the goal to be beautiful has created a self-effacing female population, and the presentation of beauty in popular culture must broaden in order to provide women with a greater opportunity for self-confidence than is currently available to them.