How to be Perfect

Have you ever seen a picture of a woman in the media and felt like you weren’t good enough? Or wondered “Why isn’t there anyone that looks like me on the magazine covers ?” Every single day we are faced with ‘idealised’ images and representations of what beauty is. Always faced with new criteria in which we are expected to try and achieve.

To be skinny 

but not too skinny. 

To have curves

But not too many. 

To be natural

But wear makeup. 

To have plump lips

But not duck lips.

To have a large bust

But not too large.

To be toned

But not too masculine 

The list goes on for miles.

Do you get my drift?

We are faced with brands daily that only represent a narrow portion of bodies, which creates this idea that beauty can only come in one form. A Victoria Secret campaign launched in 2014 came under fire due to a misinterpreted slogan. The denotations of this image is a Victoria Secret bras ad, with a group of women showing all of the different styles, emphasising the large variety available. The problems with this campaign arose due to the connotations associated with what it is to be perfect. 

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The advertisement possessed a severe lack of representation in regards to race, body shape, hair texture, age and height. The women all looked relatively similar, paired with the slogan “The Perfect Body. Perfect fit. Perfect comfort. Perfectly soft.” The connotations around the ideas of perfection in this advertisement creates an unrealistic standard which is that women are expected to achieve in order to be considered idealised. The repetition of the word “perfect” suggests that the only body that can be perfect is the skinny, white, petite, large busted, long legged with straight hair.

This advertisement can be easily interpreted that the perfect body is made up of these physical characteristics which only perpetuates low self esteem, and feelings of inadequacy and promotes eating disorders. This is explored in Roles of Sexual Objectification Experiences and Internalization of Standards of Beauty in Eating Disorder Symptomatology, where there is found to be a positive correlation between a greater exposure to cultural beauty standards which was internalised into self objection and eating disorder symptoms. To test the impact these images had on women The Internalization scale of Heinberg et al.’s (1995) Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire measures how much women accept and embody societal beauty standards. This concluded that an average of 88% of women felt the expectation to conform to societal beauty standards and experience body dissatisfaction, restrained eating and abnormal eating. With 72% of Australian’s using social media (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014)

But we can change the way we view these images. Instead of seeing them as standards we are able to change our way of thinking. I challenge you to see these images of these ‘idealised’ women and appreciate their appearance without questioning your own. 

Look only. Do not question.