Beauty standards are ever-changing and cyclical, especially for women. Whichever look is popular today may not be what is desired in the next couple of years, or even what was desired a few years ago. The ideal body for women has never been stable. It is a trend that demands adherence, and failure to do so may lead a woman being seen as undesirable. This pressure to adhere to what society views as beautiful has left women trying to fit into beauty standards that are often unrealistic, unattainable, and unhealthy.
In the 1990s, the “Heroin Chic” look was in style, and women were expected to look bony, with pale skin and sharp, angular features that are reminiscent of people with a drug addiction. This ideal naturally led women to adopt unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as the “cotton ball diet” which saw women using hard drugs or taking large amounts of caffeine and nicotine to curb hunger, restrict calorie intake, and still maintain high energy levels.
In the following decade, the 2000s, “Heroin Chic” died out, and a new body trend emerged: the “Size Zero”. During this trend, women were expected to look extremely thin and tan, and having a big posterior was considered the biggest insult known to mankind. This era saw the peak of eating disorders, fuelled by tabloids that depicted natural aspects of a woman’s body such as stretch marks and body rolls as the epitome of “letting yourself go”.
An extreme pendulum swing came in the 2010s during the “BBL/Instagram baddie era”. The thin look was traded in for large breasts, tiny waists, and larger butts, all of which could be achieved through a cosmetic surgery called the Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL).
Now, in the 2020s, society has entered the “Ozempic era”, meaning that skinny is back in style and can be achieved by taking the drug Ozempic, which was initially intended to treat individuals with type 2 diabetes.
Treating women’s bodies as trends has posed profound psychological, physical, and societal dangers. Psychologically, women are left feeling deeply insecure and develop distorted views of themselves. They continuously chase body ideals that change too rapidly and are often unattainable, leading to psychological disorders such as body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and depression. Physically, extreme weight loss can lead to women losing their periods, enamel damage caused by purging due to disordered eating, permanent damage to internal organs, and, in extreme cases, death. This is often seen during invasive, non-essential surgical procedures such as BBLs. Societally, the impact of women’s bodies being trends is the homogenisation of beauty. Ethnic features and diverse body types are culturally erased in favour of a standardised ideal of beauty.
Body trends are supported and amplified by the beauty and cosmetic industry. These industries make women believe that natural aspects of their bodies – such as cellulite, belly rolls, wrinkles, and stretch marks – are “flaws”. After successfully making women insecure, they subsequently sell them the “cure”, which comes in the form of firming and anti-wrinkle creams, diet pills, shapewear, cosmetic procedures, and fitness programmes. These industries do not profit off of women feeling secure in their bodies. The constant change of beauty standards ensures that women will always have insecurities that require rectification, causing them to be eternal consumers in their pursuit of fitting into beauty standards.
The never-ending and ever-shifting trendification of women’s bodies exposes how female appearances are treated as a commodity, often at the expense of holistic health, individuality, and self-confidence. It is important to reject mainstream beauty standards or at least engage with them in a way that does not cause harm to ourselves. It is important to remember that our bodies are not clay; they cannot be moulded, broken, and reshaped every time a perceived imperfection or a new body trend emerges.
