Feminine Beauty Standards
Annie Yeung (ISB G11)
Annie (G 11) takes a stand against conventional standards of style women should adhere to.
With what she has seen in social media and current trends ,she is frustrated with the amount of traditonal “feminine” portrayal through China’s social media and speaks out about what she believes feminnity should really be: a promotion of power.
Beauty standards and fashion trends are volatile. They change frequently and change in unpredictable directions, but the beauty standards for women have hardly changed in the last few centuries. Confined within their gender roles of being a wife and a mother, women have been restricted within a stereotypical general image. They need to portray themselves in an image that is absolutely feminine. It was not until the 20th century when women began to be liberated from their conventional duties in society, which includes being able to wear clothes that outlined the body or being able to take part in the workplace. Lately, in China, a new rising fashion trend has been growing in popularity, especially amongst youngsters, and that is the passion for skinny and young women. From popular online influencers to the latest favored fashion trends, being thin was tremendously popular. Simultaneously, any sign of increased fat on the body was considered a sin, especially on actresses and celebrities. This basically renders women the submissive part of society. Young and thin would correlate to the vulnerable, which prevents women from being powerful and independent: it makes them an affiliation of the rather powerful men. If this is the current circumstances of our society, then hasn’t society retrograded since decades ago?
(Courtesy of eriol_S2)
(Courtest of -Kosyoko- )
Apart from seeking skinny and young women, society also feels the need to be concerned for tall women. Society tries to make tall women feel uncomfortable because it questions whether they will be able to find a husband. This is the long-held ideology of how a husband should never be shorter than the wife, emphasizes the trend of toxic male dominance where women, even through height, need to be in a “lower” position than their husbands. Altogether, these beauty standards utterly fail to promote the portrayal of healthy womanhood and seeks to fulfill one purpose, and that is to suppress females. This has not only been problematic amongst females but also for males. Toxic femininity contributes to toxic masculinity, which creates an unhealthy outlook of how men should look, and being manly is further defined as being sturdy and powerful. Society does criticize celebrities or k-pop stars as less conventionally “masculine.” However, a truly manly man is not merely superficially reflected upon how the “masculine” a man dresses or how “masculine” a man’s walking posture is; instead, it is demonstrated through the extent to which he respects all women as a gender.
Furthermore, feminine fashion styles cooperate with beauty standards. Society claims only certain body images have the right to be placed and shown off in clothes. Yet whether if it’s mini skirts, cute stockings, dazzling gowns, or lolita dresses, it should be a woman’s choice to present herself, and perhaps even a man’s choice to dress this way if they would like to dress more femininely. But if these fashion styles become a tool for the patriarchal society to implement sexist attitudes that suppress women, then they will only become a weapon to belittle women. This way, women are further prevented from showing their bodies. The revealing body is a form of presenting the curves and elegance of the woman’s body, not an opportunity to label with derogatory remarks, judge, or criticize a woman. Women today desperately try to find a balancing point of how much of their body to show just to earn society’s satisfaction. Women should no longer be defined by conventional societal expectations; there should no longer be beauty standards that act like rules to control and command the standard for women.
Feminine fashion styles should be a commencement to entitle women power, to promote a gender-equal society. Being feminine is only one part of a woman. She should be encouraged with any body image, to not be confined within specific criteria established by society or be guided into a toxic pathway that dictates a “beautiful woman” or an “ugly woman.” Essentially, all women are beautiful, no matter if they decide to look more “feminine” or “masculine.”
(Courtesy of GLOSSYBOX)