For centuries, body image and beauty standards have been a prevalent issue. Both men and women face unrealistic standards for their bodies, as set by society. Women have especially been expected to attain ridiculous “beauty” standards, depending on what media deems acceptable. Women have been required to gain excessive amounts of weight, be stick thin, have large breasts and butts, be a surfboard (totally flat), have long hair, have short hair, have straight hair, have curly hair, wear tons of makeup, look natural, paint on their faces, be pale, have a golden tan, dress modestly, show too much skin… the list could go on forever. Media is commonly clad with dozens of trends, one being beauty. Beauty is seen as a trend in society, please allow me to unpack. Beauty is a constant, women are always expected to be beautiful and align their physical appearance with what is deemed beautiful, but the definition of what it means to be “beautiful” changes almost on the daily.

Does the A4 Waist Challenge make women more beautiful?

Recently, the “A4 Waist Challenge” has been blowing up on social media. This is more commonly administered in various Asian cultures, but has made its way to American standards as well. The challenge focuses on women having an extremely small waist. The requirements of this challenge is being as wide as the more narrow side of an 8.5x11 piece of paper. In effect, this challenge claims that if a woman has a waist larger than a sheet of paper, she is not beautiful. “Beautiful” meaning, she does not conform to a ridiculous stereotype.

Gender biases in language prove that women are seen for the size of their waists.

Gender biases in language is a psychological concept is defined as different connotations various words have in relation to a gender, “terms used for women often have more negative, sexualized, or trivialized connotations than the terms used for men.” For example, the A4 challenge focuses on the word “waist.” The medical definition of “waist,” is, “the typically narrowed part of the body between the thorax and hips.” Though I personally have a great disdain for Urban Dictionary, it is known as a great oracle of millennial wisdom; It is the dictionary of the 21st century. The “Top Definition” for “waist” on Urban Dictionary is, “The waist is the part of the abdomen between the rib cage and hips. The ideal waist for a woman is 24 inches.” The second and latter definitions are extremely degrading and crude in how they describe a woman’s body. The fact that women’s bodies are described as such is disgusting, but it is even more disgusting that the first definition of a “waist” is the standard size for a woman. This proves the unhealthy view of different shapes and sizes. This also proves our over-sexualized world that sees women as a mere addition to a man; she ought only to be seen and not heard.

As long as women fit the stereotype, they are viewed as beautiful.

In modern culture, there are biased representations of women and men in media. Research of these gender biases provides support that, “women are relatively invisible” and “women’s bodies are used differently than men’s bodies.” More data concerning the first concept states that, “front page articles feature women only 15-20%; only 20% of sportscasters are female; women report only 20% of news stories about economic, political, or international issues; only 20% sportscasters are female.” These statistics show that women are only—and barely—seen in the news in a professional sense. It is shown here that women are seen in the media professionally roughly 20% of the time. However, there are no statistics about women being over-sexualized over the media. The faces and bodies of women are posted all over social media, but only negatively. The second concept concludes that women’s bodies are used or viewed differently than men’s. Women’s bodies are viewed as more “decorative.” The A4 waist challenge proves that women’s bodies have to be a decoration—seen as beautiful, which means align with societal standards and stereotypes. In society, to be beautiful is to be a stereotype. This view is so far from the truth.

Is beauty objective or subjective; Is it both? How is beauty measured?

I think we as a society, need to redefine what it means to be beautiful. For me, I would define beauty as objective, yet very broad. Beauty is something God has created. Every person is beautiful because they intrinsically have been created to be beautiful. People are created and designed by God in His perfect image.

Your beauty is not considered beautiful because you fit into a certain stereotype, your beauty is beautiful because it is you; therefore, everyone is beautiful. Though beauty is very much all-inclusive, I think it is vital that we understand that personal beauty is very much subjective. To explain further, each person finds certain things more beautiful, appealing, or attractive than others, but that does not make one person more beautiful than another. That ideal perpetuates the concept that your personal beauty is defined by another person’s definition of your beauty. Your beauty is yours, it is unique, it is not greater or less than another’s, but it is very much personal and very much lovely.

All quotes and statistics provided by Professor Eliason at Biola University.