Pretty isn’t Pretty
Pretty Isn't Pretty by Olivia Rodrigo
Throughout the years, women have always been given certain ideals and expectations they are supposed to live up to. This is not something modern, this was created many centuries ago.
The 1920s
Starting from 1920s, the ideal beauty was to have: a flat chest, slim hips and a lack of pronounced curves. This was named the “Flapper” look and symbolized independence, youth, and liberation.
The 1950s
By the 1950s, post war, the ideal body was curvy, with a cinched waist and full bust and hips. This was the influence of Marylin Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, setting the beauty standard of this time.
The late 1960s
In the late 1960s, the “Mod” look took over, inspired by London’s youth culture. Twiggy, with a waifish frame. Women were supposed to look slim, youthful, and almost doll-like.
The 1970s
The feminist movement and a return to natural lifestyles influenced 1970s beauty, allowing curves that women had to be normalised but the slim ideal was still in place.
The 1980s
In the 1980s, supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista embodied athleticism, curves, and confidence.
The 1990s
The 90s had more of a controversial beauty standard for women, the “Heroin chic” look consisted of the expectation of being pale, thin, and dishevelled.
The early 2000s
The ideal was tanned, toned, and often surgically enhanced, big influences being Britney spears and many reality TV stars. Though, photoshop and the early internet created unattainable standards often rooted in fantasy.
As you can see through these images, the beauty standards set for women were almost always changing every few years. Women then and women now still struggle to keep up with these unrealistic standards that are constantly set for them by the patriarchy and trolls on the internet. All rooted in plain misogyny and the internal misogyny women are taught to have growing up to “keep themselves in check". These kind of ideals don’t just happen in a young girls mind, at the age of 8 they don’t look at a teenage girl and think “I hope to be as skinny as her when I get older” These kind of thoughts are forced into innocent and impressionable minds from a young age because of bullying and unachievable expectations being pushed onto them.
Recent ideals
In 2026, we seem to have developed two sides to the body and beauty standards: body positivity and the unhealthily skinny body expectation that is being presented to us by the media and many stars in Hollywood.
The body positivity side of the standards are inclusive to all shapes and sizes and teaching women how to feel confident within their bodies as they are. This is popular on social media platforms like TikTok, this helps the content reach a younger and broader audience as a lot of young people are on this platform. There are many content creators on this app that spread body positivity and help young girls everyday just by posting a short video to uplift them, some of my personal favourites being Spencer Barbosa and Anna Lambert
The opposite side to this is the body and beauty standard to be skinny. A lot of people have different ideals of what a “skinny” woman looks like. There hasn’t really been a set standard for what is skinny and what isn’t, until recently a lot of people in the media and Hollywood have been aiming for, what I would consider, a unhealthily skinny look. The expectation in Hollywood right now is to look as petite and small as possible, that including weight too. The weight some of these women in Hollywood are right now is extremely unachievable, unrealistic and unhealthy. These standards cannot be met unless a woman is to deprive herself of food completely, have some kind of injection or surgery. It is genuinely alarming and upsetting to see.
As much as I worry for these women that are meeting these kinds of standards, I refuse to speak my mind about it. I will never talk about a persons weight, you never know what they may be going through.
However, seeing these women who are in the spotlight influencing young girls look almost sick is so disappointing to see. I see it all the time. These people are acting in children’s movies and are setting the unrealistic standard for what a “woman’s body should look like” without even intending to. We are slowly and blindly bringing back “Heroin chic” from the 1990s.
Why we glamourize pretty & skinny girls
I searched for “unrealistic beauty standards” in TikTok and looked through some comment sections to find some vulnerable confessions young girls have made about how they feel living with these unrealistic ideals.
My personal note
Ever since I was 14 I have struggled with my body image. Being a 5’0 teenage girl with DD sized breasts always made me feel like I was stubby. Like I didn’t fit my own body. Over the years, I payed more attention to it and suddenly everyone around me was skinny or on some kind of diet. For a long time, I tried to ignore it. But It was always in the back of my mind. “I’m not skinny enough” “I eat too much” “Why does everyone else suit their body and I don’t?” Until one day, at the age of 15, I started skipping lunch on weekdays. I wouldn’t eat breakfast anyway, so I was only eating one meal a day for months. When I eventually felt I was at a weight I could be confident in, I started eating normally again.
Then it would fluctuate between being normal eating patterns to binge eating and to then eating little to nothing for weeks. I had created a spiral. When I finally hit 17, I thought I was back to normal. I was eating fine amounts of food and wasn’t really too focused on my weight and body image. But then, In April of 2025, I started talking to a boy I really liked and we would exchange pictures on snapchat, just like I would anyone else. As we got closer and talked more and more, I noticed I was eating a lot less. At first I thought It was just the nerves, I hadn’t really liked someone that much in a while, but then it got worse and worse the more we spoke. I started comparing myself to girls on the internet who were smaller than me, my friends and family who were skinnier than me. He started talking more about my body. I spiralled again, only this time it was worse. I couldn’t stop it. The more he complemented my body, the less I ate. I didn’t eat for days at a time. Weeks.
My friends noticed I wasn’t my usual self, they blamed him. I defended him, of course. Then it all came out one night. My friends knew, and as much as I hated them in the moment for doing it, they told my mom. That same night I blocked that boy on everything with zero explanation. He knew what I was doing to myself long before my friends and mom knew, I don’t believe he deserved an explanation.
I am now forever grateful for the loving friends I have. I get scared at the thought of who or where I would be now if it wasn’t for them.
Thank you for reading, I hope this has opened your eyes to what I see.
You are not alone. If you are struggling with your body image, please contact any of the below.
Call any of these numbers for advice or urgent help concerning eating disorders.