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In today’s society, we have created this epitome of ‘beauty’, one which is so exclusive and euro-centric it has been an influencing factor of depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia and eating disorders.  Due to the prevalence of social media, this notion has been further amplified which has led to the degradation of mental health, especially in adolescents and young adults and with more that 48.5% of teens modifying their bodies and faces online due to social pressure.    A 1940s experiment, the Brown vs Board experiment, with psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and conducted a series of experiments known colloquially as “the doll tests” aimed to study the psychological effects of segregation, discrimination and racism on African-American children. They used four dolls which were identical (except for colour) to test black children’s racial perceptions and self esteem. The results concluded that most of the children preferred the white doll to the African American doll with some going to the extent of crying and running out of the room when asked to identify which doll looked similar to them . As reported by the US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren the segregated laws created a “a feeling of inferiority” for black children as their status in the community may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone. Furthermore, the “separate but equal” constitutional law was counterintuitive and this is also shown through a historically black institution that made news in 2012 for a policy in the business school that said male students couldn’t have dreadlocks because they were considered unprofessional.     Due to the lack of diversity in media and the gratification of euro-centric beauty standards, many ethnic groups, such as Brown, Black, and Hispanic people, are being overlooked and under-represented in the media and indoctrinated through social media to think that their features are not “beautiful”. Due to today’s prevalent beauty standards for women, which consists of voluptuous curves, big lips, upward lifted nose and face, huge eyes, pale skin, no cellulite, small waist (but not too scrawny as it is essential to have enough weight on your body for the desired hourglass figure) and by tying so much intrinsic value to beauty and euro-centric beauty standards minority groups are disadvantaged. That being said, women are now breaking barriers in an array of different fields, achieving unprecedented things yet still due to the significant amount of misogyny still prevalent in this world they can’t escape being degraded and diminished due to not fitting the beauty standard such as Zendaya, Steffi Graf and AOC. Tone deaf advertisement campaigns like Dove’s 2017 one where a black woman turned into a white woman after using Dove soap further impedes and perpetuates the beauty standard as endorsing products which glorify racism.     Additionally, I would also like to add that beauty is a facet of power which can be perpetuated by certain prejudices, such as racism and xenophobia, that exist against certain groups. Being society’s standard of beautiful can be vital and you can gain access to certain settings and opportunities due to “pretty privilege”. On the other hand one could argue that a perceived lack of beauty or not conforming to the unattainable standards of the modern world could mean losing certain opportunities which is why we conform.    Now according to the Washington Post, conformity has led to the notion that groups are more superior to one another which has led to issues like the deprivation of aborotion rights, misogyny, racism, and white supremacy among other things. According to Ozan Varo “conformity is a natural and efficient instinct. From the day we’re born, the idea of conformity is engraved in our heads. Conformity teaches us everything from how to walk to how to talk. Instead of reinventing the wheel and attempting to figure out everything on our own, we master, through observation, the best of what other people have learned”.     In the same way, the underrepresentation of the media could act in the same way as the majority of teenagers are inundated with social media posts of the same type of girls who all look the same yet look nothing like them and a childmind study from 2017 of 8th to 12th graders found that high levels of depressive symptoms increased by 33% between 2010 and 2015. The suicide rate for girls in this age group increased by 65%, child suicide rates increased by up to 150%, and self-harm by girls ages 10 to 14 nearly tripled.   Additionally, people are more likely to conform if there is a figure of certain power and in this case I use celebrities as an example. Due to access to plastic surgeons and copious amounts of money celebrities are able to use propaganda to market crazy diet routines or “magic tablets” which creates a fabricated illusion but this is all false propaganda sold to consumers and marketing campaigns that use consumer exploitation to market appearance enhancing products. There are 66% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 who are reporting signs of anxiety and depression due to the increased use of social media editing. Furthermore, the prevalence of body dysmorphia has increased due to celebrities such as Kim Kardashian endorsing and glorifying unhealthy weight loss and diet culture by revealing to her young fans that she lost “16 pounds in 3 weeks”.     Instead of advocating unhealthy beauty standards, social media platforms should aim to create an algorithm that promotes diversity and society should work on creating a more inclusive beauty standard which uplifts people.

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