We are in this new era where looks are everything. We are in this time where unless you have a big butt, small waist, Kylie Jenner lips, your nails are done, along with your hair, and your face is made up to a t, you aren’t accepted. You have to fit this impossible list of beauty standards to be at least somewhat accepted. Unless you look like Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, or Rihanna.

You just aren’t that it girl. It’s sad and degrading. Women have been trying to live up to these irrational beauty standards. Now let’s say you do change yourself to live up to this ideal example of beauty. By the next month, people are going to be looking to something else as the new beauty standard.

Young girls look up to these public figures who parade around a certain image. Young girls see these women with this hourglass figure that men consider desirable, and it puts the idea that unless you look like that you’re not desirable, you’re not pretty, or you’re not good enough. When girls hear and see things like this at a young age, it sticks with them throughout life and makes them insecure as adults.

I asked freshman Myana Anderson, being a model herself, why does she think the industry is becoming more diverse and using models of all sizes and complexions? She responded, “As a model, I can say the industry is becoming diverse in various ways because of the simple fact that people were tired of seeing just ‘white, flat, skinny, (Barbie doll) lookalikes. They came to the realization that there are not only beautiful Caucasian men and women, but beautiful Asians, African Americans, Latinas, Muslim, skin diseased, curvy, rigid, short and tall men and women on this earth also. The people (non-models/audience) want to see more variety. Especially those who think they don’t have a shot just because requirements are put onto standards. The diversity shows that they do have a chance, and no matter what you look like you are beautiful in your own unique way and that is what the fashion industry is trying to show people. That we are fivers and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

It’s true that yes all women not just women but all people have insecurities. It’s one thing to have them but you shouldn’t go and change everything about yourself to fit a certain image. I asked Lena Granberry why she thinks slimmer women are more desirable than a woman who isn’t.

“Men and women alike find slimmer women more attractive because that’s what what we are accustomed to,” Granberry said. “We think that women who aren’t slim aren’t pretty. There’s no logical reason I can think of that says that’s okay. Everyone is beautiful in their own way regardless of if they’re slim or not.”

Women should embrace their natural beauty without being shamed for it. Women should be themselves and be uplifted, feel beautiful in their own skin, not put on a mask and be afraid to be who they were born to be.