Dismantle Beauty Standards

Being a woman is so expensive and men want to keep it that way. Part of the patriarchy is using money as a tool to exert control over women by paying men more money, by limiting the employment options that women occupy, by encouraging women to compete with the ever-changing standard of beauty. Trends are a way for businesses to profit from the concept that women are not acceptable in our natural states. We're currently watching the short-lived era of big butts and lips transform into a more soft, realistic aesthetic because who can afford to maintain artificial beauty, besides the affluent and famous?

White women have been going all out to mimic the current standard of caucasian beauty (Kim K) by enhancing/over-accentuating their butts, lips, and tans. Cosmetic surgery, lip fillers, and foundation that's six shades too dark add up fast. In this economy, where underemployment is rampant and the cost of living has outpaced wages, this trend cannot sustain itself.

It is the perfect time for the main beneficiaries of American beauty standards to join the rest of us in dismantling it. I won't hold my breath, white women have greater access to wealth and an easier time conforming to shifting standards; it is simply a matter of will and the choice to dominate other women. Hopefully, more will realize that when you cut off your nose to spite your face, you still lose your nose.

For more analysis on how beauty standards benefit white women while acting as a tool of their oppression (to establish a hierarchy over women of color and Black women) check out my review on the Tressie MacMillan Cottom essay In the Name of Beauty.