As a teen girl, I hear things about self-image almost every day. Whether it is a talk about how Instagram can make girls insecure, or my friend complaining about how much she dislikes a freckle on her face that I didn’t even notice, the topic always seems to be there.
Growing up in the age of technology has completely changed the way girls view themselves. We’re constantly bombarded with videos of influencers who use filters when they show their makeup or skincare routine and then preach self-love and confidence. It creates a confusing standard, where we know that confidence is key, and that everyone is beautiful, but we are still expected to edit out our insecurities and pretend they don’t exist.
For girls now, beauty standards aren’t just on magazine covers; they are on our phones 24/7. Social media dictates how girls should look, how they should dress, how they should their makeup and hair. The standard is constantly changing with every new trend, which makes it nearly impossible to keep up. Additionally, it popularizes fast fashion, overconsumption, and needing the next new craze. It spreads a sense of insecurity around money because not everyone can afford to keep up with the trends — but if they want to be be relevant — they have to.
Insecurities have gotten smaller and more specific. The beauty standard used to be pretty simple: skinny, tall, blonde, blue eyes. Now the little things are starting to be ridiculed. You can’t be too skinny or too thick. You shouldn’t wear too much makeup, but you also shouldn’t let your pimples or undereye bags show. To be confident, you need to be the beauty standard. There is an intense need for girls to be perfect, but “perfect” in today’s world is such an insanely high standard.
There is also a growing fear for the future. Girls feel pressure to keep a watch out for wrinkles, crow’s feet, smile lines. It caused the trend of “Sephora kids”, where little girls buy expensive skincare and makeup that they don’t need. This trend is shaping the next generation; I’ve seen 8-year-olds putting on mascara and blush for 3rd grade. Personally, I’ve never thought something like smile lines are a problem. I think it’s funny how society has named them an imperfection that needs to be smoothed over, rather than a sign of a happy life filled with so many smiles. It’s the same idea with sunspots: some people think they’re unattractive, but we could also see them as a sign of enjoying time outside in the sun. Wrinkles, something that people are constantly trying to “fix,” are really just a sign of a long life. That is what’s so detrimental about the things society identifies as “ugly” or “imperfect”; it has taken things that can be beautiful and meaningful and turned them into flaws.
In the end, all of this pressure adds up. Girls today grow up trying to balance being confident with trying to meet a beauty standard that constantly shifts. It’s exhausting, and it takes away from the things that truly matter. If society stopped labeling normal, human features as “flaws,” girls might finally feel free to just exist without feeling like they’re being judged. Real beauty isn’t about being perfect; it’s about being real.