Beauty Standard in Cadiz City and How It Affects the Youth

A Research Paper Presented to

Presented By:

Villareal, Denise Angelene R.

Dequiña, Marie Carmelie D.

Plagata, Ashley D.

Olaira, Phillip Gabriel C.

 Beauty is an obsession known to human existence. We are all born with our bodies but only
become aware of it once we grow; the most affected by this mental consciousness are those who
are still yet to grow and in the process of growth- the youth. As they become more open to their
own bodies, they'll realize that there are expectations and a degree established by society on how
and what their figure should mold onto. Thus, this turns the possibility of seeing their body and
learning to love it into hatred and change. This makes diversity of beauty in our country little as
Beauty standards ruin the character of one. Such standards create a system of toxicity that can
lead up to multiple behavioral problems; such as, body dysmorphia, eating disorders, depression,
anxiety, and more of that spectrum.

This paper aims to bring light onto the topic of Beauty standards and its effects mainly on the
youth of our country. Many studies and victims of this social construct are witnesses on what are
the effects and the severity of what this topic might cause. Beauty standards can be dated to
decades back of our culture and tradition- each period being influenced by their own trend and
practices. This only means that there have been multiple Filipinos that have suffered, and many
more will if we continue to let these expectations ruin and puppet our people.

Beauty standards have existed for centuries and still continue to influence the media of today.
Throughout the decades, the standards have been affected by different evolutions of the country.
During the 333 years that the Spaniards had been in control of our country, they showed
dominance as they had established their own culture and Beauty standards into our land. It is
known in our history how social classes existed and divided people then, it existed even during
the Spanish colonization. The social norm of that time was that Spanish was the master and
Filipinos were the ground. This social division can now be adapted to pretty privilege as people
are still divided, not by class but by their appearance. Being colonized by the Spanish and
American conquerors for centuries had left us aiming for a more western beauty today— a slim
and pointy nose, fair skin, and straight hair.

From a 2-minute video released by The Cut for their sixth episode of 100 years of Beauty, it
can be seen how different decades in the Philippines each presented a different look. The video
began with an indigenous look of a Filipino tribal woman with tattoos and a headpiece made out
of seashells. When the American and Spaniard colonization began, it had brought a drastic
change to not only the living of the people then but also to the Filipino beauty. During the
1920’s towards the ‘30s, as the US had a hold over the dominance of the country, American
trends had influenced the beauty of the Filipinos. Jazz and silver screen became most popular,
this includes: Glamorous hairdos paired with heavy make-up. As the second world war began,
when Japan occupied the country, the trend had come into a hiatus. When the war ended, that is
when the term mestiza had been born along with the vogue for red lips and rosy cheeks. As
decades came, the American had continued their influence not only to our culture and tradition,
but also to our beauty. During the ‘60s was when the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda Marcos,
and Jackie O had influenced everyone with their bouffant hair. Then, Hippie became a style
known in fashion during the ‘70s. As the 2000’s came, Korean fashion had appeared all across
the media as it became more well-known. As the video ends to the present day, it can be seen
that Our beauty Standards in the Philippines are Heavily dominated by Korean and American
beauty as women’s styles are suited to flatter the standards of today.
 Predominantly Filipinos were born with brown skin and dark features, but it slowly had been
divided towards modern-day. To shorten it up, beauty in our country is divided into three
categories; “white skin” (mestiza/mestizo), “bronze skin” (morena/moreno), and “East Asian fair
skin” (chinita/chinito). These are divided commonly based on the skin tones. However, fair skin
is still the ideal tone and dominates the rest despite the diversity of our features. This provides
no space for distinction amongst everyone. If you are not Mestiza/Mestizo, Morena/Moreno, nor
Chinita/Chinito, then what spectrum do you belong to? With beauty being extensive, is it really
possible to be none?

In the said video we see how our country loses its beauty as it is replaced and is dominated by
the influence of colonization. This can be associated with the standards and its effect as of today.
The beauty standards overrun the beauty of our people and it brainwashes them into thinking
they are nothing if they are not what society had expected its people to be. It is intoxicating
having our features complement to western standards when we should enhance them rather than
changing it.

It can be concluded that standards are influenced by the trends and culture of a period and how
strong domination can bring to people. As social media expanded and became accessible to
anyone, we were open to different beauties and standards as we slowly again adapted to it.
Being exposed to certain things can either lead to a positive nor a negative outcome. Social
media is a weapon, it is up to us to whether use this for the good or the badness of our own well-
being.

According to google, social media refers to the use of websites and applications to create and
share content or to participate in social networking. Technological developments have given rise
to various gadgets including smart-phones, tablets, and laptops to robots too.

While it's generally acknowledged that social media has drastically improved and simplified
communication and connected people from all over the world, it has also been used to establish
standards of beauty for both genders as well as the third gender.

Related articles revealed that social media associate’s thinness with beauty. People who strive for
this kind of ideal appearance experience negative effects like eating disorders and alteration to
their appearance. People desire to look better as a result, so they spend money on clothing or
beauty products that might enhance their looks.

Family is our first society. Study shows that your family, friends, culture, work environment and
advertisements all have an impact on how you perceive beauty. Because of this, unfavorable
body image fuels a variety of psychological and adverse physical effects including dieting,
obesity, anorexia, bulimia, and other extreme weight- and appearance-control approaches (Clark
& Tiggermann 2006). A study found that a person's family does have a significant impact on
how they perceive their body image. Parents who constantly talk about their appearance or urge
their kids to engage in weight-loss activities run the risk of making their kids feel self-conscious
about their bodies.
The author Glennon Doyle mentioned in her podcast that she received compliments on her
appearance when she was younger. But those compliments stopped as she aged and her beauty
‘diminished’, she said. It was as if she had lost the attention of the world.

That kind of attention to a person's looks, whether it takes the form of unintentional compliments
or criticism, can be linked to beliefs and insecurities that are difficult to overcome. And the fact
that it is already damaging that the impacted party will suffer the repercussions instead of the one
who caused them. Because of this, eating disorders and mental health issues can result from
familial attitudes and disparaging remarks about weight and appearance. And since physical
ideals differ greatly between cultures and over time. A quick glance at the 11.1 cm tall Venus of
Willendorf figurine, also known as the "Woman of" or "Woman from Willendorf" by some
scholars. This demonstrates how enthusiastically people have embraced curvaceous
characteristics. However, the concept that a slender body is the ideal one still predominates on
our generation, social media, television, large screens, billboards, and in advertising today,
despite the growing body positivity movement that celebrates people of all shapes, sizes, and
skin tones.

According to Mavis Henriques and Debasis Patnaik, the role of social media plays a factor in
affecting beauty trends, body image and self-esteem concerns. Because of social media, people,
especially teenagers, are pushing themselves to engage in life threatening beauty due to social
consent and acceptance of society. This social networking site has an impact on perception of
beauty standards and new unrealistic trends are gaining popularity that could change opinions
and cause harm to individuals. Social media is one of the most important factors in contributing
to the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health of a person. Media is constantly portraying
ideal beauty and body image comparisons; the decisions of men and women's beauty choices are
affected. Body image refers to a person's perceptions of their physical self and the thoughts and
feelings, positive, negative or both which results perception.
Social media portrays that women who are slim are more beautiful than overweight women.

The usage of social media more frequently when a person is younger has been linked to body
image issues. Photoshop, filters, plastic surgery, and makeup are all promoted on social media.
Teen users who use beauty filters are more likely to want surgery, per a 2021 ParentsTogether
survey. Many Filipinos utilize self-satisfying applications or beauty filters. As Western beauty
standards have an impact on the Philippines, some people lighten their skin, make their noses
pointier or narrower, or even alter their physical shapes. When people view their body proportion
or face without filters on social media sites, it makes them feel less confident or makes them feel
less comfortable with themselves. This is because the usage of beauty filters produces false
personas.

This mistaken sense of validation is fostered by social media. It has become a contest to see who
can garner the most likes, comments, and followers on well-known social media platforms like
Instagram and TikTok. People accomplish this by changing their appearance in whatever manner
they can because if you are viewed as conventionally attractive on social media, you will receive
more attention. The physical affirmation that social media influencers and celebrities receive is
mostly sought after by teenagers and young children. Additionally, social media also gives false
perception of what beauty truly is. Unfortunately, as of today, social media is about sharing
yourself on how “perfect” your life is, and only showing a fraction of your life where you are
looking your best. But at the end of the day, beauty is so much more than the superficial.

Having said that, social media may change society if it is redirected appropriately. We can teach
people or teenagers like us to appreciate themselves for who they are if there are more platforms
or influencers that support body acceptance. As a result, we questioned PNU students to find out
how they felt about the beauty standards here in Cadiz City or rather in the Philippines.

To understand more on how Beauty Standards affect the youth, we conducted an online survey
amongst PNU students; out of the 45 respondents, 82.6% of them were under the age of 15
years old, while 68.95% that had responded were females.

These are the following questions and statements:

1. The way I look is important to me.

2. I am concerned about others’ opinions on my appearance.
3. Do you often compare yourself with other people’s pictures online?
4. Do you feel pressured from the media to look a certain way?
5. Do you perceive people with numerous tattoos and piercings beautiful?
6. Have you ever experienced body or face dysmorphia?
7. Have you or do you consider ever getting any cosmetic surgeries in the future?
8. Do you feel acquired to look like the people you see online?
9. Does the beauty standard in the country affect your self-esteem?
10. Does social media affect the beauty standard here in the Philippines?

The following percentage are the responses to the previous survey we organized:

1. 93.3% said yes, while 3 participants answered no.

2. 77.3% answered yes, while 22.7% responded no.
3. The answers were divided almost equally, 26 students responded with yes while the
other 19 answered no.
4. 60% answered yes while 40% answered no.
5. 13 answered no and 32 answered yes
6. 24 of the respondents have experienced body dysmorphia while 21 haven’t
7. Almost the majority of students who answered the survey wants to get cosmetic surgery
in the future (84.4%)
8. 53.3% of the students believed they should appear like the people they see online,
whereas 46.7% of the students did not.
9. 66.7% of students answered yes, while 33.3% disagreed.
10. 82.2% agreed that social media does affect the beauty standards here in the Philippines,
although 17.8% of the students disagreed.
 Based on the responses, we concluded that Beauty Standards affect Females the most, especially
those who are young; nonetheless, males also suffer from the beauty standard that the society has
set. We came to the conclusion that the social media’s definition of beauty has not only an
impact on young people’s perceptions of themselves and as well as how this has caused them to
suffer psychologically and physically, but it also has an impact on how they view or
communicate with others and how they treat individuals.

The normalized beauty standard in our society, despite having a positive effect for a majority of
us, is also equally harmful as the majority of many Filipinos are widely affected negatively by
this social construct. When someone passively accepts the toxic definition of society and the
media's beauty standards they start to compare themselves to others and we also begin to dislike
ourselves because we can't fit in our society's beauty standards. That is when one’s mental
health will be affected as they envelope their selves with anxiousness trying to fit into the
society’s norm. This can heavily affect their mental health as it can lead up to others self-
harming by binging, purging, or diet control. Others are using beauty products to improve their
looks while others undergo on cosmetic surgeries to improve their looks more so we can become
more "BEAUTIFUL" to our societies and social media's standards.