No matter what country you’re in, France, the UK, Japan, India, or Canada, you are surrounded by it at any given moment. The latest sale, the hottest new look, the ideal body, the only way to ‘fit in’. This overtly westernized image of beauty has become the international standard through the influence of clever marketing and advertising schemes. We are taught that in order to fit into the globalized culture we must fully embrace the western body.
Vanity-Insanity
Sadly, lighter-colored skin is considered the ideal image of beauty in most countries that contain darker skinned people. The use of skin lightening creams are rampant throughout these countries, pulling in billions of dollars every year. The majority of these products work by eliminating the production of melanin, the natural pigment found in our skin. By the year 2018, it is estimated that the global market for skin lighteners will reach a staggering $20 Billion. But the use of these products don’t come without dangerous risks.
Hydroquinone, a common topical ingredient found in skin lightening creams has been shown to cause leukemia in mice and other animals. The European Union even banned the ingredient in cosmetics in 2001, although it can now be prescribed by a doctor.
In Korea and other Asian countries, blepharoplasty, or eyelid surgery, has become the most common cosmetic procedure. The idea is to create a look that makes the eyes appear more open, similar to the shape of Caucasian eyes. If you look at the models and Anime characters portrayed in Asian magazines and advertisements, it is easy to see the exaggerated size of their eyes and the influence this has on the population.
Self-Love = No Profit For Beauty Industry
Where do these beauty ideals stem from? The sad part is that the desire to look a certain way doesn’t come from the men and women themselves, it is often imposed on them from the mass media and society at large. Why? Because insecure people make better consumers.
And this isn’t just a female related issue either, men face the same bombardment of chiseled models and beefy sports super-heroes every day. There is a market pin-pointed for every faction of the population.
In truth, if someone were completely happy and confident with how they felt and looked, they wouldn’t feel the need to wear makeup, do their hair, dress fashionable, or pay for expensive and invasive surgeries. These industries would all fail, and this is something they know.
This is why the big companies spend billions on advertising every year. This is why the westernized standard for perfection is pushed in everyone’s faces day-in and day-out. And this is exactly why we need to put an end to these standards.
The Illusionists is a new documentary coming out this year that aims to raise awareness around the vanity-insanity issue currently plaguing our world. Their 4 minute teaser has been going viral around the web and for good reason, I think the timing of this message couldn’t be any more imperative. We can’t wait for the conversation around westernized beauty standards to be at the forefront of international discourse.
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What do you guys think, have you ever felt pressured to look a certain way based upon our current westernized standard for attractiveness? Share with us below!
Actually pale skin isn’t just a Western thing. Pale skin in Asian countries for eons has represented royalty or the upper echelons of a society, as opposed to the field workers who were always necessarily much darker.
So true. Almost nobody is satisfied and happy with how they look. Why should we be so worried on our bodies if one day they’ll rotten underground? It is the fight against the impossible: the forever young and beautiful body (according to standards only). This whole thing is a mirage, another tool used by the industry, and the ones behind it, to distract people, to create useless problems and worries while they push their agenda secretly.
As a black woman, it was interesting to see the reaction when I cut off my chemically straightened hair and let my naturally curly locks shine. Most of the negative feedback was from black men and older black people. In a recent trip to Asia, every beauty product, including deodorant, was whitening. Most of the young women and many men lightened their hair. That’s when I knew the entire world was living a lie. Even white people are enamoured with the blond hair & blue eye paradigms. If we were happy with ourselves, billions (or maybe trillions) would be lost each year via the cosmetic, weight loss, surgery, and hair product industry.
And don’t forget how those who are already pale are told that tanned is beautiful… plenty of cosmetics and tanning shops available for those who buy it and have a self-consciousness issues as well.
I have often heard the argument:
“But it is a cultural thing that has been around among white people, too: tanned and dark skin stands for having to work hard and light skin for wealth”
Well, true that, but if anyone is interested in a person for who they are why would they judge them by their social/financial status in the first place? People just need to stop looking for their spouses by shallow and superficial reasons in general. The problem: brainwashed people believe they think freely for themselves AND you can’t make money with people who are aware of the problem.
Very brave article. 3 cheers for the writer #respect. For lasting change, perform a miracle maze.
It’s nice that this is being noticed by a white person. I’m Mexican and Pakistani, and my cultures comment on it constantly. I think imperialism and colonialism caused this flawed, centralized standard of beauty. White people had the power in colonized areas, and favoured lighter people. This ideology has carried on, unfortunately.
I’d like to answer the question at the end. Yes. I think the obsession with abs and the fact that it’s extremely hard for an Asian to develope them – possibly as hard as it is for a Caucasian to train to sit in lotus pose – is the reason why very few guys I know work out at all. They just decide that it’s impossible and then they don’t bother at all, ignoring the fact that there’s plenty of other reasons why exercise is important.