Social Media’s Propagation of the Perfect Image of Women’s Appearance can Cause Women’s Appearance Anxiety and Lack of Confidence
Abstract
Social media’s propagation of the perfect image of women has raised appearance anxiety in women. Web 2.0 is an era of community networking for all, and social media is characterised by online participation. This paper discusses the different effects of social media and traditional media on defining beauty. It examines two popular social media platforms – TikTok and Instagram to explore the effects of social media on women in promoting a perfect image.
Keywords: identity, online identity, social media, perfect image, beauty standards
Introduction
Today, social media plays an important role in constructing people’s identities. “Identities help distinguish between self and society, individuals and groups, in-groups and out-groups, and they are fundamentally public, ways of being known by others” (Kreiss, 2018, p.15). Social media allows people to selectively present themselves online, which contributes to the curation of online identity (Seibel, 2019). There are various images of near-perfect and seemingly flawless women presented on social media such as Instagram and TikTok. According to Chua and Chang (2016), social media users prefer to post their “best” images, which are carefully taken with better angles and can be enhanced with filters and editing applications.
However, viewing more unrealistic or edited pictures on social media has negative effects on raising women’s appearance concerns. Related research has indicated that the use of social media has led to certain body image concerns of women’s body dissatisfaction and anxiety (Tiggemann & Anderberg, 2020; Liu, 2021). For example, Liu (2021)’s study states that women who use social media regularly are six times more likely to engage in unhealthy weight management behaviours. This paper will discuss the role of TikTok and Instagram specifically in reference to the impact of social media on the formation of ‘perfect identity representation. It will also analyse how social media affects women’s identity.
Social media impacts female users’ identity
Identity is constructed through the interaction level (Bucholtz and Hall, 2005) – users of Instagram and TikTok can perform their different identities by interacting with others online through posting, sharing, and liking. The functions of social media has had a serious impact on women’s aesthetic standards by normalising potentially creating unrealistic expectations of the female body. This stereotyping of female identity has become increasingly serious, especially following the widespread use of social media. A content analysis of the last 30 years consistently reveals that the social media is almost exclusively monolithic in its depiction of women’s physical characteristics and female role identities without offering a variety of female roles (Motseki & Oyedemi, 2017). Most appearing on social media is the image of the perfect young, beautiful woman with a perfect body and good skin. The media’s portrayal of the perfect female identity contributes to a certain degree to women’s dissatisfaction with their facial appearance and body image.
In addition, a research survey was conducted to analyse the content of the six most popular media viewed by girls (i.e. TV shows, movies, magazines, music videos, TV commercials, and magazine ads) (Gorden, 2008). It was found that the advertisements targeting the female demographic in teen magazines (81%) and television (70%) were for products related to female appearance (Fouts & Burggraf, 2000). The importance of appearance was also strongly emphasised in the magazines (Gordon, 2008). The survey found that 37% of girls were concerned with appearance, 32% with fashion, 18% with make-up and 16% with hairstyles (Gordon, 2008). Since the birth of media, beauty has been defined in a single way; they do not consider the diversity of the human body, race, skin colour, and other objective factors that cannot be ignored. This stereotyping of female identity is becoming increasingly severe as social media penetrates people’s daily lives.
The construction of female beauty standards in the social media
Social media has heavily influenced the current definition of beauty and is reflected in our daily lives in various forms. Social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have not only contributed to unhealthy eating and beauty habits but have also created a culture of stereotyping women’s identities (Wolf, 2019). On social media, celebrities and influencers like to showcase themselves and their views on beauty to attract users and followers on social media, thus making social media a platform for the dissemination of standard aesthetics and sometimes determining the ideal definition of beauty and the stereotypical requirements that define a woman’s identity.
Traditional media audiences may assume that displayed perfection is a unique characteristic of celebrity status; in social networks, perfection is everywhere, from the closest of friends to countless ordinary people around the world who may have this image of perfection (Stein et al., 2019). Many celebrities silently dominate aesthetic trends through their actions by posting and commenting on social media platforms using beautiful body shapes and looks. These celebrities often showcase the different body contouring and cosmetic procedures they have undergone. Examples include skin bleaching, buttock augmentation, liposuction, and other cosmetic acts. Social media platforms have created a space for celebrities to showcase their perfect image (Motseki & Oyedemi, 2017). Because of the nature of social media and the online participation model, people can better participate to share their lives and personal opinions about something. It is this model of universal participation that is leading to an increasingly harsh definition of female identity. Traditional media does not promote perfectionism as profoundly or as widely as social media. The universal participation model of social media is influencing more and more women’s perceptions of their own identity. All that publicity about the perfect image on social media has fueled the high expectations of women’s identity. Appearance and body image have become essential factors in how women are commented on, and this has dramatically increased women’s anxiety about their bodies. Some women try plastic surgery, dieting, and other unhealthy practices to achieve the perfect image in the media’s eyes. This stereotypical value of female identity is highly damaging to women’s bodies and self-confidence.
The Formation of Identity on Social Media
The promotion of the perfect image on social media such as TikTok and Instagram has distorted the understanding of female identity. The image of perfection presented by some celebrities on social media and some of the topics and challenges of the pursuit of extreme beauty is influencing the understanding of the image of women. TikTok is a multi-participant video platform with a feature called ‘challenges’, which are trending videos with hashtags that people click on to join the challenge to start a series of video responses. Mona (2020)’s survey found that the most popular challenge of 2015, the #DontJudgeMeChallenge, was started by Chicago-based make-up artist Em Ford, titled ‘You Look Disgusting’. The campaign went viral on social networking sites such as Twitter and Instagram, receiving 170,000 video responses. The campaign consists of user-made videos. The videos highlighted women’s facial imperfections such as acne, scars, and wrinkles, however, these imperfections were clearly added by cosmetics and presented these imperfections in a rather ugly light. The users removed these cosmetic created imperfections in front of the camera to show a cleaner complexion. While transforming them into images that meet standard aesthetics through makeup and other means is something that should be judged and praised. With the development of social media, the content on the internet is also uneven, so it is important to learn how to distinguish between positive and negative content, and not to develop an inferiority complex and a wrong concept of life because of some misconceptions.
With the popularity of photo media more and more people are manipulating photos on Instagram by using retouching techniques, so these ‘perfect photos’ can potentially have a negative impact on the psychology of Instagram users. There are celebrities and internet celebrities who use photo retouching techniques such as filters to embellish their photos to present their perfect image. As a result, they are normalising an unrealistic body ideal, and they are influencing this misconception of beauty to a wider audience. Instagram is one of the most popular social networks in the world with around one billion monthly active users (Statista, 2021). Instagram is based on users sharing photos or videos and then communicating with their online friends by commenting on the photos and videos. Kleemans et al. (2016) used effects and filters from Instagram to retouch the women’s photos. Kleemans et al. (2016) edited the face and body visible in the photos to remove bags, wrinkles, and flab under the eyes and to slim down the legs and waist. Finally, all photos were displayed in the same Instagram format. The results of the study found that manipulated Instagram photos did result in users being less satisfied with their bodies than unprocessed internet selfies (Kleemans et al., 2016). Photographs as an effective means of expressing identity and gaining social recognition can lead to a significant increase in the attention and importance people place on appearance when interacting on social media (Feltman & Szymanski, 2017). It is because of the spread of social media that people are becoming more and more conscious of their appearance and are using all kinds of retouching to beautify their photos, but it is also because of this behaviour that increasing people are going for the ultimate perfect image.
Pictures can be retouched to make them perfect. Still, it is not easy for people to become perfect, so the spread of this misconception of aesthetics can lead to people going on plastic surgery or diets that are harmful to their bodies to become picture perfect. The spread of these stereotypes has also put a box around the definition of female identity and people stereotypically believe that women must be a perfect image with a slim body and attractive appearance because of these so-called pictures and videos. This misconception has put a lot of pressure on many female users’ lives.
Despite the negative influence that social media has on defining female identity, social media featuring the ideal body is popular. Many women often choose to expose themselves to the idealised body image portrayed by the media. This apparent paradox is rarely mentioned in the literature. Research has found that young women who are unhappy with their bodies tend to choose magazines or online video media that feature a display of perfect femininity for viewing, rather than media unrelated to appearance (Mills et al., 2017).
As young women are affected by celebrities and influencers’ social media, especially those who are not satisfied with their body image, media about becoming beautiful is more likely to attract their attention, and they are usually more likely to focus on diet, fitness, and beauty-related content. These findings also suggest that those who are unsatisfied with their appearance may be following appearance-related media for advice or information, or to see advertisements for products that can make them look good (Mills et al., 2017). The image of perfection promoted by social media impacts women’s identity, but this impact is a double-edged sword. Studies have shown that women unhappy with their bodies are more likely to watch beauty content that encourages them to be confident. Social media’s promotion of a perfect identity can help them become more beautiful by providing them with information on being beautiful. They can also be motivated by these images of perfection to become better. But there is truth and lies on the internet, and the messages people receive about becoming beautiful are not always entirely positive. There is no shortage of information about going on a diet to lose weight, and there is also information about cosmetic surgery. Just because people can use the information on the internet to become beautiful doesn’t mean that the promotion of perfect looks on the internet doesn’t cause women to feel anxious about their appearance.
Conclusion
This conference paper focuses on the social media’s promotion of the perfect image of women’s appearance, which can cause appearance anxiety and lack of confidence in women from the perspective of Identity and Online Advocacy. By comparing how beauty is defined in wider media and social media, the paper addresses the strong impact of social media’s definition of beauty on women’s identities. The paper looks at two social media platforms – TikTok and Instagram to find examples of how social media’s promotion of the perfection of a woman’s appearance can make women feel less confident, and then talks about the impact of social media on identity. In the concession paragraph, research is cited to prove that social media’s definition of female identity is a double-edged sword that can help women become beautiful while bringing them anxiety about their looks. There are also several limitations in the writing of this conference paper, including the need for greater logical clarity, theoretical and methodological flaws, and only finding evidence through academic paper books; more practical research is needed to validate further and refine these findings.
Reference list
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Feel free to interact and give me your valuable comments. Thank you.
Hi Sining,
Great paper! I agree that TikTok and Instagram have become a platform to promote the idea of “perfection”, especially for women. It also creates unrealistic expectations of what the standard of beauty is, if a person is unable to meet such standards (that they see online) it affects their confidence in themselves. And similar to filters that these platforms provide, whereby are becoming too realistic, some can distort a person’s face (e.g. a filter that contours your nose smaller) and other filters mask a person’s facial imperfections that are normal to have such as acne, blemishes, etc. It kinda sets an expectation for its users as well.
I enjoyed reading your paper, Shaira.
Hi Shaira,
Thank you for taking your time to read and comment on my paper. It means a lot.
kind regards,
Hie Shakira
Great topic there and very interesting. Indeed the media is giving women unnecessary pressure and by so it’s defining what women should like and by all this framing ,should we say the media is reducing women to sexual objects? I mean the whole idea if using bleaching creams…slimming teas and elastic surgeries is because they want to look sexy right?
Martha.
You can also read my paper n leave your comment
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/956/social-media-platforms-a-space-for-political-protests-in-zimbabwe-a-case-study-of-the-zimbabweanlivesmatter-movement/
Thanks.
Hi Sining,
Wow what a highly relatable and insightful read! Being on several platforms myself, including both Instagram and TikTok, i can definitely see the harsh reality these platforms have on individuals (particularly females) confidence and self-esteem. As you mention, social media provides people with the opportunity to showcase the ‘best versions of themselves’ and unfortunately this has led to individuals basing their self-worth entirely off their appearance. I love how you mentioned that social media has set unattainable beauty standards and these are now the new ‘norm’ which is highly concerning and sad to think about.
I also feel that it is more common than ever before to get cosmetic procedures done? The level of influencers I personally follow and see that have cheek and lip filler, botox, veneers, boob jobs, etc is crazy to me! I feel like 10 years ago this wasn’t as common however over the last 5 or so years, it’s almost every second influencer that has lip filler! I feel like because of this, cosmetic procedures have become very normalised and almost encouraged in a way – to change what’s now perceived as ‘imperfections’ or ‘insecurities’. I cannot help but wonder the effect this has on younger girls who look up to these fashion/beauty influencers. I feel like these younger generations are unfortunately hyper aware of looking/presenting themselves a certain way on social media due to these completely unrealistic social standards. I would love to know how many young girls actually feel comfortable uploading a picture without feeling the need to edit or put a filter on it to post….. i’d imagine very little which is very concerning and sad to think about.
I’d love to know you thoughts on if you think due to these unrealistic beauty standards and filters created by social media, that this would translate into more individuals seeking out plastic and cosmetic procedures to better ‘fit in’ or achieve this ‘desired’ look?
Hi Siena and Sining,
Great paper Sining, your argument is very coherent. I feel very fortunate to be just older enough to be past my formative years before social media became really popular. the pressure that is now placed on young women to be the ‘ideal’ representation of beauty does seem pervasive. especially because social media has become so ubiquitous, there’s no escaping these representations. I know they do exist, but it would be great to see education on just what goes into these images and how many people most of these celebs have helping them, hair and make up technicians, stylists, cooks, personal trainers, costs etc.
Siena you raise a great point too, cosmetic procedures have become far more normalised. I think through social media and in turn, reality tv shows about plastic surgery. It would be great top see a campaign of celebs and influencers embracing their “flaws”, rather than just perpetuating images of perfection. I really hope it doesn’t translate into more individuals seeking out plastic surgery, I have a pre-teen daughter and I’d be lying if I said I wasnt a bit terrified about the potential impacts of social media on her, not that she’s going on anytime soon!
The #DontJudgeMeChallenge is quite troublesome for me. The fact that most people have glasses and acne on before becoming “beautiful” really does imply that those things are ugly. Both of which can often not be helped. As someone who has had strugglers with acne, I can say that it hurts to see something I couldn’t control be so stigmatised. I get that its not nice to have and see, but to paint it as ugly is harmful. For me it took years and multiple medications to get my acne under control. I likewise find the depiction of glasses as ugly, disappointing. I cant wear contacts and honestly thought we had come further as a society as that and it could be incredibly harmful to young adults and teenagers to see these videos. As you said, Sining, they are often already suffering low self esteem and these types of challenges perpetuate that they should feel bad about themselves.
Beyond education, do you think these platforms should take responsibility for these types of images and the potential harm they can do?
Tracy 🙂
Hi Tracy，
Thank you for your comment!
I fully believe that social media platforms should be held responsible for these types of images and the potential harm they can cause. Because I think social media should be used as a positive platform to promote more positive topics and views, rather than giving traffic to topics that encourage people to look perfect through plastic surgery and other means. I think social media platforms should provide more traffic to positive topics, increase the discoverability of these positive videos, and regulate unhealthy topics such as plastic surgery and dieting.
Thanks，
Sining
Hi Siena,
Thank you for your comment!
“Due to these unrealistic beauty standards and filters created by social media that this would translate into more individuals seeking out plastic and cosmetic procedures to better fit in or achieve this desired look。”I do agree with this. Because of the promotion of these perfect images on social media, such as many influencers recommending plastic surgery programs and weight loss products on social media, this can lead to people getting plastic surgery in pursuit of the perfect image. With the frequent use of filters, people find that the image is more perfect with filters, and they want to transform themselves into the same image as in the photos in which they have used filters. So they have to resort to cosmetic surgery and other means to change their image
Thanks，
Sining
Hi Sining,
This is a very informative reading about how social media affects women to chase after “the perfect image”. I think that social media really empowered the spreadability of concepts such as “the perfect image”, where the mass actively tries to achieve that standard, transforming it to the norm and then competing to share their progress towards that “perfect image” on their own social media. Do you think this is the same case for men maybe or similar to some degree?
Hi Adrian，
Thank you for your comment!
I think that men are just as affected by the image of perfection, but women are more affected than men. In the article, I mention the #DontJudgeMeChallenge, where it is easy to see that most participants in this challenge are girls. There are two reasons why I think women are more influenced by the perfect image than men: firstly, society has given men and women different responsibilities and identities. People are generally more interested in women’s appearance, but men are different. People generally value a man’s ability more than his appearance， so men will be less concerned about their looks than women. Secondly, there are differences in the thinking of men and women. The fact that men are rational and women are emotional determines that men and women have different attitudes when faced with some appearance anxiety, men are also less influenced by the image of perfection than women. This is all my personal opinion, and I look forward to your views.
Thanks，
Sining
Hi Sining,
This was a well written paper with a very interesting topic.
I agree with you that social media has impacted the image of women, and can apply pressure on women to live up to a certain expectation and image society has of them.
I strongly believe that culture also plays a large role in the representation of women on social media. I currently live in Japan, and the women here are heavily influenced by the idol culture of Japan. Young girls often go through extreme, unhealthy, damaging diets to be thin like popular female idols, but what they are trying to achieve is unsustainable. The increasing popularity of idols from close-by Korea, the influence of K-Pop idols is also having an impact. For example, young girls, and even women, are following what is known as the ‘IU Diet Challenge’, where you eat one apple, two sweet potatoes and a protein powder drink per day, just to look like Korean artist, IU. Momo of popular K-Pop idol group Twice also confessed to losing 7kg in one week. Young girls, especially Asian girls who have been brought up surrounded by idol culture, are easily influenced by their favourite idols, as they idolise them and want to be like them.
Especially with the increase in young children using social media, they see photos of their favourite idols, look up how they lost weight or how to look like them, and copy their unhealthy methods. What is presented on social media is seen as normal or the social standard, which is sending a harmful message to young people, which is far from one of self love.
I personally related to your paper as I am part of the generation brought up with social media, and often find myself comparing myself with people I follow on Instagram. I think I am negatively influenced by social media, although you mention that it can sometimes positively influence people by motivating them to be more confident.
Your paper addressed a relative and hot topic in today’s society, which I found interesting to read.
Great job!
Hi Shellee，
Thank you for your comment!
As a girl who also lives in Asia, I couldn’t agree with you more. I was obsessed with Kpop culture when I was in high school. I was crazy about the Girls’ Generation, and I tried dieting to have the same perfect body as them, and I ended up with stomach problems because of it. This extreme pursuit of body image affects our health too much. I live in China, also in the Asian region, and I understand the Asian demand for a perfect image that is “white”, “young”, and “thin”.It is difficult for ordinary people to have such a perfect body, especially with the rise of social media in the web 2.0 era, where there is so much publicity on social media about the perfect image, which leads to many people having low self-esteem because they do not have a perfect image. I think it is important to be confident in ourselves and not be influenced by the so-called standard aesthetics.
Thanks,
Sining
Hi Sining,
What an excellent paper. Shedding light on the dangers of social media regarding women and how they view themselves is valuable, especially for a younger audience who are still navigating who they are and identifying their value.
As you point out, it’s easy to convey such a perfect image online with the tools that social media apps provide, and it’s easy to be influenced by these seemingly perfect images. While social media has mainly been the cause of this, I think it has always been the case that women will strive for the unachievable. Unrealistic unauthentic images of women have always been around. Before social media in the 70s,80,s and 90s, women sought to achieve the perfect picture of a woman that television or magazines created. I would love to know what your thoughts are on this. Do you think idealism for women has always been around, or is social media solely responsible?
Recently there has been a shift in users wanting to view real-life images, which has given rise to the ‘Instagram reality movement’ of women posting real photos next to photoshopped ones https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444819888720
While there were negative aspects of social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as fake news, there were also some positive changes regarding authenticity. During lockdowns, people were drawn to apps like TikTok as there was more authentic, less perfect content. This article explains the shift https://www.vox.com/recode/22295131/social-media-use-pandemic-covid-19-instagram-tiktok
My paper focuses on authentic social media fashion influencers. I would welcome your thoughts if you get a chance https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/360/instagram-fashion-influencers-and-their-authentic-online-identities/
Good luck with the remainder of the conference 🙂
Veronica
Hi Veronica,
Thank you for your comment!
I think women’s idealism has always been there, but with the advent of social media, it is becoming more and more common. As you mentioned, in the 70s,80,s and 90s, women sought to achieve the perfect picture of a woman that television or magazines created. I also mentioned in the article that the media has always defined beauty. Before the advent of social media, traditional media such as television and magazines came to define beauty. Whether you look at the films of the 70s or today’s films. Movie stars are people with beautiful images, such as Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, all of whom have perfect images. Traditional media use these celebrity’s images to define the ideal aesthetic for women. With the advent of the web 2.0 era, social media is now a platform for all to participate in, anyone can join in the media, and the impact of social media communication is far more significant than traditional media. It is easy to see that many people on social media are playing up the image of perfection, even our friends and classmates. This perfect image is more likely to create a sense of crisis. And it is mostly celebrities who have the perfect image in the traditional media., so that’s why I think social media has exacerbated female idealism. This is just my personal opinion, and I would be interested to hear yours. Thank you.
Hello Sining. Great paper. It is true to say that social media make women portray the “perfect image”. Do you, as a social media user and a person, want to have the perfect image on social media platforms? Do you use retouching techniques or post pictures the way you are? I enjoyed reading your paper.
Kind regards, Prithvi.
Hi Prithvi，
Thank you for your comment!
Honesty, I would like to look perfect too, both in real life and on social media. Because I think it’s a girl’s natural instinct to love beauty, I guess.
I rarely post photos of myself on social media, but I do use filters for photos in my life.But after taking a picture with a filter, it causes me worse anxiety，because I would want to be the image in the photo😂
Hello Sining,
What an amazing read, very informative on a subject that I also believe is a prominent aspect of our generations use of social media.
I especially enjoyed reading through the ‘You Look Disgusting’ passage highlighting the use of video content creation to portray a seemingly ‘imperfect’ image to then be altered with cosmetics to achieve a ‘perfect’ outcome. It is a shame these so called ‘imperfections’ of blemishes, wrinkles, scars, etc, have been used to hold negative connotations, rather than embracing personal image and comfortability in your own skin.
One aspect I did want to address, while the paradox of idealized body image portrayed by the media initially relates to younger women more predominantly, would there be similar relations to men seeking the ‘image of perfection’ through social media? Now I am sure men participated in the ‘You Look Disgusting’ challenge, although would their intentions vary from achieving perceived perfection, to potentially focusing on mass attraction and attention?
kind regards,
Cohen.
Hello Sining,
Just to let you know that I really enjoyed your topic and the discussion you presented. Actually Im glad that you addressed this issue as from my experience I witnessed many female friends blindly follow celebrities and influencers in terms of their appearance and finally become a version of those celebrities. However, this did not end on a positive note as they were deceived by their ‘role models’ who would engage in another trend, hence creating anxiety and lack of confidence. I remember, when people first discovered YouTube, these content were in high demand.
According to you, how could women take only the good from female representations on Instagram and TikTok? Do you think it really depends on the content creator or on the consumer to be careful about what content to consume?
Also I have written my paper on TikTok and the representation of trans people in Mauritius, you might want to give it a read. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/53/online-advocacy-and-tiktok-the-representation-of-transgender-people-in-mauritius/
Best,
Julie
Hi Marie，
Thank you for your comment!
I think all women can use social media with a critical mind. For example, I often see people with perfect bodies recommending diet pills on social media, and when this happens, I think about whether this diet pill is right for me. I also look for information about the diet pill to see if the product is dangerous to our health. We should not be totally influenced by influencers to follow the trend blindly, we have to make our judgements. I think it’s important for content creators to communicate the correct values to the masses and for consumers to have their own judgement of what’s on social media; both are important.
All best,
Sining
Hey Sining,
Well I totally agree to what you said. Anyone ought to be critical when making use of social media platforms and since we have at our reach different tools to crosscheck information, we need to use them. I think that there should be more education surrounding this topic particularly aiming at young women because some of them are somehow naive and can be easy preys for influencers.
Best,
Julie
Hello, Sining. You have written a great piece. It stands as a major issue that with these crazy beauty standards becoming more prominent on the internet as it opens door to serious issues of confidence, body dissatisfaction and even mental health concerns. It is cool to know that movements like the #DontJudgeMeChallenge has allowed people to show that the imperfections are natural and normal.
When you say that “research has found that young women who are unhappy with their bodies tend to choose magazines or online video media that feature a display of perfect femininity for viewing”. In this context, what is perfect femininity. Is it a concept that was evolved by society over time? If the concept of a perfect body ceases to exist, would ‘perfect femininity exit?
Hello Sining!
I really enjoyed your paper which consists of many interesting points.
Had great insights into it.
Cheers,
Gavin