The Impact of Media Beauty Standards on Women’s Self Esteem

Danica Alyanna Katrina L. Madariaga

danicaalyanna@gmail.com

BS Medical Technology, 1st year (1st semester)

December 3, 2019
Topic:

Beauty standards and social media somehow connect with each other. They belong to the

society’s top issues here in the Philippines. Social media brings us the most relevant and non-

relevant issues of our generation and society. Beauty standard is one of those issues that are still

brought up until this day. They both have advantages and disadvantages with each other.

Purpose of the paper:

Social media is a powerful platform that we use in our daily lives and we certainly know

that it can cause harm or problems to other people when the purpose of using it is not good.

Beauty standard is a reflection of what can social media do to affect other people that can be

advantage or disadvantage. I wanted this to be my topic because I know that these two factors

have an impact for a woman like me. We know what social media and the people who use it can

do to other people. It is not new that a woman is being harassed or bullied in different social

media platforms because of the beauty standards that they believed. We must stand against those

people, educate them and change how they view women.

Discussion:

Beauty is a strong word for someone to describe other people. We all have different kinds

of beauty and it may be your physical appearance, your characteristics or your attitude. There is a

famous saying that we constantly hear from time to time and it is “Beauty comes in all shapes
and sizes.” It is a simple statement for us when we were kids and did not understand what it

really means but now that we are constantly changing and growing, we fully understood it’s

beautiful meaning. It is true that beauty can be seen in all shapes, may you be chubby or

petite and can be seen in all colors, may you have a light or darker complexion.

History of the Philippine’s beauty standards.

We are conquered by Japan, Spain and America that contributed to our country and the

people what we are today. According to Rondilla (2009), the Filipino fascination for fair skin is

rooted in the country more than the three hundred year oppression of the Spaniards and closely

followed by the Americans. “In the past, American and Spanish cultures tend to prefer fair

skinned women, as lighter complexions, to them, signify wealth and social status.” (Magdaraog,

2014). These countries have mostly fair skinned people and that influenced us to think that

having lighter complexion is more attractive than having darker complexion. During those times,

thicker waists or more voluptuous were also considered beautiful as weight and size also

signified wealth and their status. We also thought of women who have lighter complexions are

wealthy and have a high status in the society because our perspective on how we view women

and their appearance were influenced by the countries who occupied the Philippines. As the time

changed, the people and their views on women also changed. Especially now in the twenty first

century, men are more attracted to skinny or petite girls and shaming those women who are

chubby or fat just because it does not fit their standards and the society’s.
Effects of social media’s beauty standards.

As a part of the generation z, as we call ourselves, we tend to use our own social media

platforms often. We are more updated with the issues of the society and sometimes we are even

the first one to know the result, for example, of a basketball game. Our generation is now more

awake with social issues especially about women and their rights. According to Madaraog

(2014), the study of Roy (2010) entitled Ganda Mo: Perception of Feminine Beauty Shaped By

Internal and External Factors, she found that most factor is a person’s own interpretation of

beauty including advertisements and the media, of course. Her study showed that most of the

Filipinas think that being thin is the meaning of beauty. The portrayals and representation of

beauty is an important role on how the society forms the concept of beauty. Social media is

affecting one’s self esteem with its beauty standards. In different and every social platform, we

always see people judging, harassing or bullying a woman’s physical appearance just because

they does not fit with their own standards or just because they perceived the idea of beauty

standards through social media. There are many effects of the beauty standards in social media

but self esteem is the most important for me. For example, when you posted a picture and you

saw some responses saying that you are not beautiful, it will definitely hurt you. It can cause for

your self esteem to be low and you can lose your confidence because of the people and their

standards. Self esteem is very important for a woman because everyone may think you are not

that good or attractive, but if you have confidence and you did not let your self esteem to be low,

you will just be happy with who you are. Believing in the beauty standards that people set in

everyone’s mind is actually foolish. We are different with each other. In the social media world,

being a woman is different. They will constantly drag you down and say their opinions that they

should just keep on themselves.

Conclusion:

We were raised with different views and perspectives about how we should define

beauty. For me, it really comes in all shapes and sizes as well as all the colors and complexions.

Being a teenager, social media is affecting me on how I view different social issues like beauty

standards. Being a woman or girl, I am strongly against those people who set these beauty

standards and those who believe it. We are all different. Every woman is different. We should

not change how a woman choose her clothes, how a woman speak or how a woman should be

just to fit in the beauty standards of social media. It is okay if you want to fit in with their

standards but do not change just to feel belong in the society.

We were conquered by different countries and they influenced us on how we think and

view what a beautiful woman is. There were many standards set on that time that we know and

prolonged. When the time passed by, people’s perspective and standard on beauty also changed.

Social media will cause us harm or good things. It has advantages and disadvantages. It

has good and bad side. Having these beauty standards will certainly affect a woman’s self

esteem. We know how the social media world works and we know how cruel the people can be.

Harsh words and harsh opinions can cause trauma to the one they are referring to. It can cause a

woman to have low self esteem and lose her confidence.

I learned through this term paper that beauty is not for people to decide its meaning. We

have different views and opinion on how we think of what really is beauty. It is saddening that

our country and this generation have a beauty standard because of social media. We must

educate ourselves and other people. One word can affect one’s life for a long time. We must
respect and value women because they are strong and powerful. We must not belittle them

because they deserve the same and equal rights like the men have. I want the reader to learn what

I learned. It is important to know what is the meaning of beauty for you and you should respect

other people’s definition of it. After all, we must not sacrifice who we are just to fit in the society

but remain and love yourself.

REFERENCES:

• Gueco, J., & Zalamea, Z. (2004). Who Says You're Beautiful? The Role of Television

Advertisements in How Selected Filipinas Perceive Beauty. Unpublished Undegraduate Thesis.

UP Diliman. Quezon City, Philippines, In Gaw, K. (2014). A Cultivation Analysis on the

Influence of Children's Exposure to Television in their Definition of Beauty.

 Magdaraog, Sheila Ruth T. (2014): THE BEHOLDER AND THE BEHOLDEN: THE

PORTRAYAL OF BEAUTY IN THE CONTEXT OF PHILIPPINE MASS MEDIA

retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/9161227/THE_BEHOLDER_AND_THE_BEHOLDEN_THE_P

ORTRAYAL_OF_BEAUTY_IN_THE_CONTEXT_OF_PHILIPPINE_MASS_MEDIA

 Maginde, L. (2014, May 28). Color Complexes in the Philippines. Retrieved October 1,

2014, from Japan Sociology: http://japansociology.com/2014/05/28/color-complexes-in-the-

philippines/

• Rondilla, J. (2009). Filipinos and the Color Complex. in Maginde, L. (2014). Color Complexes

in the Philippines
 Roy, P. (2010). Ganda mo: Perception of feminine beauty shaped by internal and external

factors. Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis. Quezon City, Philippines.

NO. OF WORDS: 1, 451