Beauty is described as a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. It is a concept that has been discussed for ages, especially by philosophers. What is precisely meant by beauty, does it change according to the century it is discussed in, or if it depends from person to person are some typical questions that are discussed about beauty?
Aristotle defines beauty as symmetry while Socrates believes that when you find pleasure in objects, there are to be found beautiful. There are many more views on what beauty is and if it is more related to the soul, or to the sight. I believe beauty is related to both the soul and the sight. Even though I strongly think that if you can find someone’s soul beautiful, you will find them beautiful on the surface too, social media has a huge impact on people’s thoughts on what is beautiful.
Every single time we get on the internet, watch TV, or even when we go out and see the models on billboards we face the norms of beauty. The beauty which is portrayed in media is mostly external beauty, and unfortunately, they are mostly seen by children who are affected very much by the norms of beauty. It causes many children to feel “not beautiful” just because they don’t look exactly like the models. While we can see this effect of beauty norms mostly in girls, boys are pretty much affected by these beauty norms too. They cause insecurities in children and make them not feel as special or as lovable as the models on screens are. Additionally, the norms of beauty cause more kids to grow more shallow and care only about the looks of a person which also raises their expectations about the appearance of people.
I strongly believe it is psychologically true that when you can find someone beautiful on the inside, you simply see them as more beautiful on the outside too. I also think that beauty most definitely is a subjective topic and should not become an objective one just because of some people on screen. You can be overweight and still beautiful, you may not have any muscles but still can be portrayed as beautiful, you may have a wide forehead, a big nose, small eyes, big lips, small lips, and other things which may not be portrayed as beautiful by beauty norms but you can still be the most beautiful human being on the whole world for someone.
In conclusion, the media affects the beauty norms for people in a significant way, and I believe it shouldn’t. I believe that, especially for the kids and the teens, the beauty norms should not be blared out way too much. Every kid should be aware that the inner beauty reflects on the external beauty and not everyone can see their inner beauty. So, no one should feel the need to change their appearance for other people to find them beautiful while only special people can see their inner beauty and find them beautiful from the outside in every way.