Before I downloaded Instagram and TikTok, I had no idea how many unrealistic beauty standards existed. I used to think people were just "pretty" or "not pretty". Suddenly, social media showed me that there were all these things that could be “wrong” with a person’s body that I never even thought about before. Phrases like “legging legs”, “glass skin”, “symmetrical or Asymmetrical face”, “tank top arms”, “Positive or Negative Canthal tilt”, “deer pretty or bunny pretty”, “large pores” and “hip dips” are common lingo on social media these days. Tiktok has created a very narrow conception of beauty and is actively creating detrimental beauty standards targeting specifically women with its predominantly female demographic.
Everyday a new body part is extensively discussed as an insecurity. The new common topic is “legging legs” which meant that leggings were only flattering if you had a thigh gap. Or the idea of “hip dips” - a hip shape that has been declared an insecurity or undesirable. Another big target of the tiktok community is skin, now having “glass skin” is the new norm. Such unattainable and unrealistic myths are common discourse on the app. Not only is the app manufacturing insecurities and beauty standards but now also capitalizing off of the insecurities. After falling victim to this manufacturing of insecurities and falling into marketing traps I noticed a pattern. Right after a new insecurity is introduced on the app, it is soon followed by an “ultimate life hack” or a “must have product” to “fix” what's “wrong” with your body.
After the obsessive discussion over hip dips and legging legs, came the influx of workout plans and routines that will help you get rid of your hip dips and help you achieve legging legs. These plans and routines are often behind a paywall or on youtube where the creator can make money. During quarantine the subject of hip dips became so popular that a creator named Chloe ting released a workout video for hip dips and for an hourglass body that is now at 46 million views. Similarly, life hacks, products for fixing your “large pores” or “dull skin” have been endless. A new trendy beauty standard is having “Glass skin” that is from a korean origin thus only korean skin products can help you achieve this look. Articles titled “This 11-Step Routine Gave Me the 'Glass Skin' of My Dreams” by popular magazines like Glamour use these trendy terms to gain more traction. Filters on tiktok that inverted the camera, was a new way to look at your face to know whether your face is symmetrical or not. This was followed by the introduction of the “gua sha” - scraping the skin with a smooth-edged tool to stimulate blood flow and reduce inflammation. Soon everyone I knew had one and was obsessively using it to make their face more symmetrical.
Companies have realized that people will bend over backwards to fit these narrow conceptions of “beauty” thus actively capitalize on these manufactured insecurities, creating this idea that these holes in us can be filled with a swipe of a card. Corporations suddenly have the magical cure to what's “wrong” with your body. These companies are making huge profits by convincing people that they aren’t good enough as they are, and that they need to change, whether it’s to be happier, prettier, or just to fit in. It's all about making us feel like we constantly need to ‘fix’ these socially constructed problems with our appearance. If it took me a while to identify this common pattern of capitalizing off insecurities, there are many young and impressionable children on the app who might never realize this system of socially constructing insecurities and then marketing and profiting off of you. These trends are also ever changing, tomorrow there will be a new standard to follow and a new product that will be the “ultimate hack” to achieving this standard.
So next time you consider buying the newest trendy product to help with your hyperpigmentation or buy a workout plan to fix your hip dips, consider that the real fix isn’t in changing our bodies to fit socially constructed beauty standard but in rejecting the manufactured insecurities that profit off of them in the first place!
The way you highlight how previously non-existent or insignificant “flaws” are suddenly thrust into the spotlight through terms like “legging legs,” “hip dips,” and “glass skin” underscores the insidious nature of these platforms in manufacturing insecurities. This constant focus on physical appearance reinforces the idea that beauty is something that must be "fixed" or "achieved" through products and routines, rather than something inherent or diverse. As a woman, this read was highly relatable. I have spent my teenage years hating my thick eyebrows because the trend was of thinner eyebrows. Now, bushy eyebrows are everywhere. It took me a lot of time to realize, but I am glad I finally did realize that these beauty standards will never remain loyal…
I like how your blog points out the capitalised aspect of the unreal beauty standards on social media platforms. This reminds me of what I studied in another course I am taking, talking about the capital in the 'influencer' market. This market is heavily backed by corporations that use social media personalities to peddle products that fuel insecurities and elevate them to an unimaginable level.
We can look at this dilemma through the lens of a concept coined by Naomi Wolf in the 1990s, the 'beauty myth' When put in the modern context, it tells us that societal pressures related to beauty are designed to keep women in a constant state of inadequacy, where they are encouraged to strive for…
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this! This connection that you have drawn between "manafacatured" insecurities and the underlying aim of these companies and corporations is so important to recognize.
I remember studying "body dysmorphia" in my course on psychopathology, a student particularly asked if body dysmorphia existed before social media. Our Professor replied that it did exist but not in this measure. She elaborated how even in her personal experience, with time, the cases of body dysmorphia had considerably gone up. These facts testify your argument that newer and newer media platforms are creating insecurities among us. The connection to profitting off of these reaffirms it even further. There are countless examples of certain beauty standards being set and then products bein…
Your blog truly struck a nerve with me. It’s alarming how social media, especially platforms like TikTok, have shifted the way we think about beauty by creating a hyper-focused lens on what’s supposedly "wrong" with our bodies. I personally have found myself falling into the trap of these harmful beauty trends that seem to create a new "flaw" to fix every day.
I remember scrolling through TikTok and coming across the term "facial harmony" for the first time, which was something I had never considered before. Suddenly, I was analyzing whether my features were symmetrical enough, obsessing over the supposed impact of a "canthal tilt" or the shape of my jawline. Before TikTok, I never questioned my facial structure to…
THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS i had insane body dysmorphia because of snapchat filters to the point that i did not know what my face looked like!! it took a lot of work undoing all that and not being obsessed with the idea of looking pretty 24/7- I don't use filters anymore because i KNOW theyll lead me down a spiral again. I also know that it is still very easy for me to fall into the trap of looking at myself from an external lens and criticize every imperfection in my skin still- what the thigh gap was to the 2000's is what perfect skin is to our generation. I personally feel as if I have matured enough to…