The Dark Side of Beauty

What comes into mind first when mentioning the term beauty? Is it a

person’s character, a personality trait or a physical trait? Does someone or
something come immediately to mind? What exactly makes them beautiful?
We all have different perceptions and standards of beauty. But sometimes our
idea of beauty is shaped by what we see in the media. Subconsciously it has
enforced the idea that certain features, often eurocentric features, are seen as
more ‘beautiful’ than others e.g. big lips, slim figure, fair skin (extremely
problematic within our community).
The faces we see on our Instagram, on magazine covers, on TV for the most part
aren’t how the faces look in reality. No doubt that six-pack has been edited, no
doubt the pictures have been filtered. No doubt that girl with the seemingly
‘natural’ makeup look has a number of products on her face. Yet we still feel the
need to compare ourselves with these unattainable standards of beauty. The girl
on TV doesn’t even look like herself, so how can you?
Often these celebrities or ‘influencers’ have a personal trainer on hand, hardly
eat enough to remain remotely healthy, have millions of dollars only to change
their appearance and yet still feel unhappy within themselves.

We live in an age of communication and advanced technology, where just within

a click of a button we can transform our features using our smartphone. We too
can airbrush ourselves to look like the girl on the magazine cover.
The impact on self esteem this takes is devastating with 9 out of 10 young
women admitting they are unhappy with the way they look in a study by the
Royal Society of Public Health. With Instagram topping the ranking for the worst
app for mental health especially exacerbating feelings of FOMO (fear of missing
out). The same organisation has linked social media with poor sleep and
increased rates of anxiety and depression. Within the last 25 years the rates of
anxiety and depression have increased by 70%, which may well correlate with
the rise of social media.
At times it’s easy to feel as if we have to behave a certain way and keep a
different online persona to who we are in real life, based on what others are
doing. Insecurities seep in and we can feel a pressure to match everyone else’s
standard of living while they seem to be loving life.

A lot of men and women feel empowered when they feel they look good and in
Islam we are encouraged to good care of ourselves and to look presentable.
However, due to the high expectations of what a ‘man’ or ‘woman’ is meant to
look like we set ourselves an immense amount of pressure with the goal of
looking ‘perfect’. Aiming to be perfect itself is unrealistic.

True beauty comes from within… however cliché this sounds. The most beautiful
face is destroyed by an ugly personality. For what truly beautifies someone is the
way they conduct themselves, their kindness and their character.

Anyone can essentially be deemed as ‘beautiful’ if they have money – we may be

able to buy ourselves a new face, even a new body – but we cannot buy piety,
modesty or good character.

https://inspiritedminds.org.uk

M. Luthfi Fauzan
XII UG IS