The beauty standard is intensifying. At what cost?

The internet is abuzz with talk of beauty and the lengths we’ll go to achieve it. From Lindsay Lohan’s recent transformation to Donatella Versace’s “new look”, those of us plugged

The internet is abuzz with talk of beauty and the lengths we’ll go to achieve it. From Lindsay Lohan’s recent transformation to Donatella Versace’s “new look”, those of us plugged

Achieved through a combination of invasive operations like face lifts and rhinoplasty as well as non-invasive procedures — like the injection of facial filler and facial neurotoxins like Botox — the contemporary beauty standard is increasingly intensive, costly and challenging to maintain. A hundred units of Botox, or its counterpart Dysport, could run clients up to  with effects diminishing in just four to six weeks.

Although women continue to make up the majority of clients seeking invasive and non-invasive beauty interventions,  So too are the number of

But while appearance pressures and beauty advertising are increasingly directed at men, the imperative to be beautiful has come at significant emotional and financial costs for women — and young women especially.

Immersed in a celebrity-saturated and visually intensive media culture, young women today face pressures to purchase beauty products and services to manage or, better yet, perfect their appearance ad nauseam.

Social media pressures

I study beauty and its cultural forces, especially as they apply to young people online. My findings speak to the increasingly important role that beauty plays in shaping women’s opportunities for visibility in both online media and in the real world. Young women are engaging in increasingly intensive practices as they aspire to new beauty standards.