Another concept of beauty standards can be grasped by looking at the effects they have on the women in our society, such as within their self esteem, health, or overall success rates. Many of the self reflecting issues that young girls face come from the beauty standards that this society sets up. Young girls grow up first comparing themselves to their Barbie dolls, then to their favorite movie characters, and then in their favorite fashion magazine models and media representatives. They start to label themselves with the different beauty characteristics that these standards express and often this results in them developing lower self esteems, as they find that they don’t match what they’re admiring. A study was done with Howard Lavine from the State University of New York in Stony Brook in which the effects of these standards was expressed.
“Participants were exposed to 15 sexist and 5 nonsexist ads, 20 nonsexist ads, or a no ad
control condition. Results revealed that women exposed to sexist ads judged their
current body size as larger and revealed a larger discrepancy between their actual
and ideal body sizes (preferring a thinner body) than women exposed to the
nonsexist or no ad condition” (Lavine 1).
These low self esteems can lead to very dangerous health effects, both mentally and physically. Teen girls continuously develop depression or eating disorders due to this issue that society creates for them. When health is affected in this way, overall performance is damaged for young women. Therefore, success rates decrease greatly in the women affected by these issues.
“Participants were exposed to 15 sexist and 5 nonsexist ads, 20 nonsexist ads, or a no ad
control condition. Results revealed that women exposed to sexist ads judged their
current body size as larger and revealed a larger discrepancy between their actual
and ideal body sizes (preferring a thinner body) than women exposed to the
nonsexist or no ad condition” (Lavine 1).
These low self esteems can lead to very dangerous health effects, both mentally and physically. Teen girls continuously develop depression or eating disorders due to this issue that society creates for them. When health is affected in this way, overall performance is damaged for young women. Therefore, success rates decrease greatly in the women affected by these issues.