Standards of Beauty in North America (United States)

Beauty Standards Among Women

• Women in America have high expectations to be a certain way.
• That can include having long blonde hair, relatively fair skin and a thinner shape.
• Majority of the time, this excludes WOC. (Women of Color) As not all of them have a fairer skin tone and/or long hair that's blonde.

Beauty Standards Among Men

• The American beauty standard for males is having a broad upper body, or what is called a V-Shaped body.
• While women are pressured to be thin, men are pressured to be muscular.
• The 'Ideal type" of guys in America are usually white by foreign countries.

What if You Don't Fit the Standard of Beauty?

• Out of 13 countries, The U.S is ranked the 9th in having confidence in their bodies.
• Specifically for fashion shows/Modeling, White models are more likely to be booked than POC.
• During New York Fashion Week, 82.7% of the Models were White, 9% were Asian, 6% were black and 2% were Latinx.

What are the exceptions?

• Despite the beauty standard by default is white, there are some exceptions.
• POC (People of Color) who are lighter skinned are generally considered more attractive than those who are darker.
• A 2006 university study stated that employers preferred lighter skinned black men over darker skinned black men, regardless of qualifications.

Is there a way the public can fit into the standard?

• Most traits that are considered to be beautiful are unachievable naturally.
• Out of all of the population of the United States, only %5 of women have the ideal body type, naturally.
• To fit into the beauty standard, It's impossible without surgery.

Works Cited

• Johnson, About Maisha Z. “10 Ways the Beauty Industry Tells You Being Beautiful Means Being White.” Everyday Feminism, 2 Dec. 2016, everydayfeminism.com/2016/01/when-beauty-equals-white/.
• “When will we stop the obsession?” NewsComAu, 22 June 2016, www.news.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/face-body/womens-body-confidence-becomes-a....