What defines beauty?

This question is extremely controversial and has many factors that

play into it. Does physical appearance mainly contribute to how beautiful someone is? Or does it

matter more about how beautiful and kind they are on the inside? Or is it even just the energy

someone gives off to others that matters most? Everyone has their own answers to this question,

but I think many can agree that the internet and social media have had a huge impact on what

beauty is and have created unrealistic beauty standards. So many people feel that they are not

beautiful enough because they don’t look like Instagram models or have picture perfect

physiques. Being beautiful on the inside is becoming less and less important to people nowadays

as a major result of social media. People scroll through Instagram for hours subconsciously

comparing themselves to others and downsizing their beauty as a result of seeing social media's

idea of beauty. In her heartfelt speech, Winnie Harlow does a wonderful job of using rhetoric to

convey her idea of what beauty is. The audience she conveys her argument to are people who can

find ways to relate to her experiences in some way, and understand the feelings she had to go

through to get to the place she is at now.

In Winnie Harlow’s Ted Talk, she explains her experiences growing up with vertigo. She

goes back to when she was younger and describes all of the times she was singled out and felt so

different from everyone else. She explained times where she was both intentionally and

unintentionally alienated. While living and growing up with this skin condition, Winnie realized

that beauty is so much deeper than just the way someone looks on the outside. The internet and

social media have created these specific, unrealistic, and pretty unattainable beauty standards for

society which have crafted a negative idea of what beauty should be. Social media continues to

mainly praise women who are size zero, blonde, white models with perfect facial features and

bodies. Ironically enough, most of the time these women don't even naturally look like this or
have edited their pictures to look perfect- in society's eyes. Winnie hopefully describes her new

take on the concept of beauty and she says that there is beauty in everything. The example she

continuously used throughout her speech is that not everything will look great on everyone, but

things that look really good on one person may not look the best on someone else. This can go

for everything. Instead of having the mindset that everyone needs to look perfect in crop tops and

low rise jeans, people should understand that everyone is beautiful in their own way. This is

Winnie’s purpose and concept she was trying to convey by delivering this speech.

Throughout Winnie’s speech, she used a great deal of pathos to appeal to her audience

and convey her point better. Pathos is the appeal to invoke emotions in an audience, more

specifically the emotions that make us feel pity or sympathy. She successfully does this by

remarking on her childhood, where she had been made out to feel alone and different at such a

young age. She describes stories when she was just in second grade and girls would not want to

hang out with her or be near her because they were scared of “catching” Winnie’s skin condition.

She explained how upset and embarrassed this had made her feel, because since she was so

young, she didn’t even understand what was wrong with her skin and why it looked different.

Winnie also told the audience of a time where her mom put dark face makeup on her at a young

age for a family picture to make her feel more “comfortable”, this was an example of a time

where she was unintentionally alienated. This story invoked sympathy in the audience because

they felt bad for all that she had to endure at such a young age. Moreover, many, if not all, of her

audience has at one point in their lives felt alienated or singled out for different reasons, so they

can connect to Winnie on a different level. By sparking these feelings of pity in the audience, it

makes what Winnie is saying more valuable because she connected to her audience in a way that

makes her relatable and more personable. The way in which Winnie tells her depressing
childhood stories is through a form of informal style because she speaks from her heart and not

from facts. Her speech was so raw and meaningful because the audience really understood how

she was feeling and how passionate she was about reconstructing the idea of beauty. Pathos

allows the speaker to convey their argument successfully by using emotional manipulation.

The other form of rhetorical appeal Winnie Harlow uses in her speech to convey her

argument about the definition of beauty is the use of ethos. Ethos is used to convey the speaker's

credibility and trustworthiness. Arguments rely heavily on who is delivering them, if someone is

presenting an argument but does not qualify to speak on that topic, they lack credibility. The

argument about beauty that Winnie is trying to convey is successful because she is the one

arguing this point. If someone who never struggled with getting bullied for their physical

appearance was up on that stage telling the same speech about beauty, there is a very high chance

that the audience would disregard anything they say because they haven’t experienced the feeling

of alienation. Since Winnie grew up being singled out for her skin condition and was made out to

feel like she was not conventionally beautiful, this makes her credible to the audience for giving

her argument. Winnie used a very inviting style to make the audience feel related because she put

herself in a vulnerable position by explaining her insecurities that it makes the audience feel safe

and not alone for having their own insecurities. She built a strong connection and trust with her

audience, therefore successfully presenting her argument that beauty is in everything.

The last form of rhetorical appeal I did not mention is logos, but there was not any appeal

to facts, data, or statistics in Winnie’s speech. Winnie used this speech as an opportunity to speak

from her heart and emotions, therefore leaving out the statistical aspect of appeal. Defining

beauty is not something that can be measured by data and statistics, so it would have been tricky

for Winnie to incorporate this form of appeal into her speech.

 After watching Winnie Harlow’s Ted Talk and doing a rhetorical analysis on it, I have

learned the importance of using rhetorical appeals in both speeches and writing pieces. One of

the most successful appeals is pathos to present an argument, and if used correctly, you are able

to emotionally manipulate your audience into believing what you are communicating to them

and trusting your argument. I have also learned the significance of ethos and credibility. It

matters who is giving the argument because not everyone qualifies to argue certain points.

Understanding what makes someone credible and trustworthy when delivering an argument is so

valuable and can be used to your advantage. In today's day and age, Winnie’s speech can be so

meaningful and inspiring to so many people, especially those constantly exposed to social media

everyday. Her new take on defining beauty is a breath of fresh air since our society has become

so accustomed to such unrealistic beauty standards. If more people are able to adapt her way of

thinking on this topic, I believe that our society will benefit immensely.