Everyday Sociology: The Double Standard of Beauty

In the blog post “Beauty and the Double Standard of Aging” written by Lisa Wade, PhD, she touches on the difference in aging expectation in regards to attractiveness between men and women. She discuses how both young boys are girls are culturally viewed the same way concerning attractiveness. They both have a delicate beauty that is fragile until they are no longer in the early part of the life cycle. Boys then transition into the second standard, which is being a man. The cultural standard is that men are rougher, thicker, and lose their innocent smooth and hairless skin. Both of these stages are viewed equally in attractiveness and are happily welcomed. This is not quite the case for girls making the transition to being women. The same expectation is held throughout a women’s life without any second equivalent step. Women are still culturally expected to have soft, clear, wrinkleless skin. Women are taught to continue to strive to look as they did as young girls. 

This has always been an issue within our culture; therefore many of us do not see it as an issue. Many aren’t aware of how different these standards are and how truly unfair they are.  This blog post brings to realization that women are held to such high and nearly impossible standards of beauty, where as men are able to happily accept both stages of their physical appearance changes in life. I never put much thought to how women are expected to maintain many of the same physical appearance traits as from when they are young girls before puberty that is made point in this blog post. That expectation is impossible because throughout life, the body does make inevitable changes. Why is it that only women are held to this standard of beauty?

This idea of beauty for women is constantly supported by society, especially in the media. When looking at ads in magazines or TV commercials, all of the women have flawless skin, no wrinkles, are thin, and so on. Is that what real a woman is suppose to look like? This is a question that is being asked by all girls and women who are being exposed to these types of advertisements. In most ads and TV commercials the women are photo shopped in order to attempt to meet the idea that our culture has set for the beauty of women. This ends up setting women up for failure as they attempt to reach this impossible standard of beauty. What is this doing to the young girls and women in our society? How is this affecting their confidence and their performance rates in society?

This double standard of beauty is an issue that can no longer be overlooked.. Having this standard of beauty for women that is impossible to obtain takes a large toll on a women’s confidence, which in turn leads to less confidence in other areas than appearance such as ability in the work place and place in society. This double standard has a greater impact than many are aware of. It is important that this information and truth be spread through out society so that this double standard is no longer present.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/02/04/susan-sontag-on-the-three-standards-of-beauty-girl-boy-and-man/