Beauty Standards
[Music]
candy
ice cream cake brownies and more
that is all i wanted to eat when i was
little maybe even still today
i used to correlate these foods to
deliciousness and happiness
but now all that comes to mind is just
unhealthiness or foods that will make my
stomach
extra big arms legs
mouths and feet these are all parts of
my body
when i was little i thought of them as
parts that helped me run
fast eat food and play sports but now i
seem to be able to find a flaw in each
of these parts of myself
hello my name is emily newhall and i’m
going to be speaking about american
beauty standards
how we view our bodies is constantly
changing and it’s different for every
person
i was lucky enough and quite frankly
skinny enough to not have a negative
thought about my body crossed my mind
until i got to middle school are you
anorexic
i was asked at first i was just confused
then i realized something must be wrong
with me
later it seemed like everyone wanted
what i had and now i’m told my body is
not desirable
confusing right but this is what went
through my mind due to the constant
reinforcement from other people
everyone has a perception of their own
bodies
good bad confident insecure
society is what shapes these views and
they are almost entirely perpetuated
through the media
because we are living in the age of
social media it is extremely difficult
not to fall victim to the models and
celebrities promoting a certain body
type
now young women are told to have a small
waist pretty face
and big butt but wait you have to look
natural too
who can fulfill these unattainable
standards
the images and representation that all
of us view from a very young age
begin to shape our views on what is
ideal or what we should look like
these images can and often do lead to
extremely negative effects
essentially all young people have
various insecurities about their bodies
for some it is more intense and for
others it is simply an insecurity here
or
there regardless insecurities impact us
all
they impact how we feel when we look in
the mirror when we put on our clothes
when we take pictures and simply when we
go throughout our day
they make us feel less than they make us
diet and sometimes they even make us
starve or binge
when we do not value our bodies for what
they provide us but instead what they
look like we begin to treat them poorly
i think that most people take their
bodies for granted
we will never meet the beauty standards
there will always be
something that’s wrong with us in other
people’s eyes
however we should learn to appreciate
our bodies for giving us life
and we should value our lives for having
the opportunity to make a difference
the only way to feel good about
ourselves is to learn how to love
ourselves for who we are
not just what we look like for me
i dealt with many insecurities for a
very long time but i came to the sudden
realization
that i needed to learn how to love
myself and that is exactly what i did
i thought about what my body allows me
to do every day
i thought about my character my morals
and my values
and i soon realized that there is so
much more to life than just what i look
like
while i still deal with insecurities
like everyone else
i walk out of my house every day
confident and ready to make a difference
and reach my goals
what we look like is a large part of our
identity but who we
are is so much bigger there is no one
definition of beauty
it can come from the inside or the
outside it can be big or
small but the only person who should
make that definition is you
so the next time you think about
something you don’t like about your body
ask yourself why why don’t you like it
who makes you feel like you shouldn’t
like it
beauty standards are simply a construct
enforced by society to put us down
but they have no real power if you do
not give it to them
a trait that most people want is
confidence the confidence is not just
given to you you have to go
get it and whether you do or not is
completely in your own control
we should all appreciate our bodies more
because in hindsight we are really just
organs held together by skin and what we
look like is really just science
these unattainable beauty standards
should not impact the way we feel about
ourselves or how we live our lives
so think about the underlying causes of
your insecurities and then get rid of
them
there is so much beauty in south
pasadena
and it comes in all shapes and sizes so
let us all try to see people for who
they are
not just what they look like and do the
same for ourselves as well
thank you