The Role Of Beauty In American Society

European society has pretty much set the standard of beauty for the western world. This standard dictates what is acceptable and what is not, as men and women age and search for beauty. Americans live in a society where many individuals are discriminated, judged and teased about their looks at an early age. How one is negatively treated about the texture of their hair, the color of their skin or the size of their body can have a lasting affect which may take years to overcome (Goin and Goin 1981). American society expects many to conform to the one set of standards, when in reality the expectation of beauty is far different in most cultures. Since the European standard is to be young, tall, thin and have long straight blonde hair, many in every culture and race aspire to achieve some of those attributes. Lightening skin tone, dying hair lighter, dieting constantly to be thin and having cosmetic surgery to achieve some these physical standards have become the norm. …show more content…
Having curves and being voluptuous was once viewed as beautiful. However, as women evolved from being the simple homemaker to a successful breadwinner, so did the psychology of woman’s body image. It became necessary, for the ideal woman to have a figure that insinuated a tiny waist and nice size breast. Individuals decide to conform to the European standard of beauty so that they can be accepted. This begins with changing and grasping a new mentality about themselves and from there developing a new emotional and physical