I think everyone, especially every woman, is familiar with societal standards. Even if some might not realize it, it is heavily ingrained. It is influencing how we think or do, what counts as “normal” or not. Some forms of societal standards include beauty standards, conforming to traditions, and centering our lives around men. Even though societal standards have a lot of forms, in this article, I’m going to focus on two things: the beauty standards and centering men.
Beauty standards and women
First, beauty standards. I think every woman is familiar with this concept. The societal standards that we need to appear “pretty” or be pleasing to look at have been implanted ever since we were young. For example, as a teenager, we would like to wear clothes that appear fashionable. We even would wear a simple lipstick to look and feel pretty. This is what I also mean by beauty standards. Also, regarding that, how society dictates what skin color is considered beautiful, facial features, etc., for me, is insane. The standards that are given to us are unattainable. At the end of the day, we can’t change the features we are born with just to conform to the standards.
Furthermore, this led to consumerism. With these unattainable standards, we will try to buy products to improve our features or appearance to the said standards. Moreover, this also relates to some psychological problems in women such as low self-esteem, negative body image, or even food-related psychological disorders. Also proven by Cai et al. (2021), whose result shows body image dissatisfaction lead to impulsive buying.
Centering men
Second, centering men. I don’t know why, in some cultures, men are often seen as more “superior” than women, and the notion that women should “serve” men. The way I see it, this is the root cause of why we as a woman have a societal standard to center men. We are “inferior” compared to men, looking for men to “protect” us, be their “faithful wife”.
More over, that is also why some cultures take pride in women being married to a man, even at early age. On the other hand, women not being married at a certain age is viewed as “low” and is not “in demand”. Additionally, a women counts as a woman if she is a good wife, to serve men, or she is nothing.
In addition, this might cause men to be more entitled to us. For example, in extreme cases, some actual men would commit unreasonable actions (m-u-r-d-e-r) just because he was rejected. This just shows how low men and society see us, and centering our lives around them doesn’t change a thing. This got me wondering, what is it like for us as a society and as a woman, when we don’t center men as a default? Because for now, being a woman and decentering men makes you feel more isolated and “weird”.
Conclusions
Society does put a lot of standards for women, in this case, I’m talking about beauty standards and centering men. I believe the standards are unattainable and harmful for us. I hope as a women, we will try to gain our self-esteem and self-worth, breaking away from societal standards.
One Comment