'Looks,' from Amanda via Robin

            Today our society is a society driven by looks. Everyone, women especially, have a lot of pressure to always look nice- to stay in shape and have the newest, cutest clothes. So if there is this pressure to be a certain size, why do we as Americans have things like McDonalds and fast food around every corner? Yes it is convenient for people on the run, but clearly obesity in our country is a problem. For a long time women were pressured into fitting into a certain size and if that was unachievable you could be seen as unattractive. However, I do believe that our society is slowly changing their views on this “size matters” ideal. Hollywood especially emphasizes beauty and many people connect beauty and being successful. So why is it that women are under such pressure to always look perfect? If you look at L.A. there are beautiful people walking around everywhere, whether it be natural beauty or because of the help of cosmetic surgery. There are even parties in which plastic surgeons will come to your house and give everyone botox! With this huge pressure to look good people go through the torture of putting themselves under the knife in order to look like a famous celebrity or to simply lose weight.  There are always risks when anesthesia is involved and the fact that people are willing to risk their lives to have a cute nose is insane to me.  Look at the case of the death of Donda West, Kanye West’s mother. Plastic surgery is seen as complication free and something that can be done over a lunch break. However the true reality is that it is a dangerous, unnecessary surgery. We even have shows like extreme makeover where contestants endure hours and hours of plastic surgery and do not even come out looking like the same person.  A question you should ask yourself would be is death really worth looking beautiful? The obvious answer is no however there are still the “beauty standards.” The perception of women has changed in the past hundred years tremendously. Today it is a very “sex based”   society. It is acceptable for a woman to talk around in short shorts and a tank top as compared to a hundred years ago when it was seen as risqué for a woman to show her ankles.

            So what does make a person “beautiful”? Tall, thin, and tan? Clearly this is not the set standard but it is what many people expect a beautiful person to look like. So how does physical beauty play a role in societies in which women are not allowed to show their bodies or faces?