The Pursuit of Beauty ; Dismantling Toxic Ideals

What is beautiful, and who is it determined by? We live in a culture where women are reduced to their bodies and all other qualities are secondary.

While we have the choice whether or not to engage in beauty practices, we cannot ignore the Western Eurocentric standards reflected in beauty culture. In this ever-shifting lens of ‘ideal’ beauty, it is a constant race for woman to keep up, extreme expectations are placed on us with devastating effects.

The beauty hierarchy sustains the current patriarchal white supremacists’ vision of beauty which everyone is coerced into aspiring to, and eventually buying into. All this is done to extract labour and capital from the majority of us who will never fit the impossible ideal. We are taught that beauty is both attainable and accessible, with just enough work, products and procedures, we too can achieve the ideal standard.

Is beauty a worthy investment? Let’s untangle the debate together.