Molly Christianson, Staff Writer
Body standards are not about being skinny or being fat – they are about having money.
For centuries, beauty standards have reflected wealth and social status. We have shifted into a culture where wealth provides access to the lifestyles necessary to achieve increasingly unattainable body standards.
Many celebrities seem to get defensive, claiming that their extreme weight loss or altered facial features are completely natural. Unfortunately, children, teens and even adults look up to these figures and can begin to feel like their own worth depends on looking the same way.
When a celebrity can buy Ozempic, hire a personal trainer, follow an expensive diet or get cosmetic procedures just to fit a trend that was started by another celebrity, where does that leave the “common people”?
The simple answer is tired. The general public is tired of constantly trying to keep up with celebrities who have millions of dollars, endless resources and whose job involves dedicating time to their appearance. Yet, the expectation is still placed on everyone else to achieve the same results.
Having money used to mean having food, but now it means having the resources to look like you are starving. The scary thing is that this is not new. It seems that with the resurgence of the Y2K aesthetic, the “heroin chic” look — featuring hollowed cheeks and scarily defined bones — has made a comeback as well. What was once criticized as an unhealthy and dangerous beauty standard is now being repackaged as trendy, nostalgic and desirable. The difference is that now, we are watching it happen through social media in real time.
It feels insane to watch rich people paying to starve while the “everyday folk” are pinching pennies so they have gas to get to work. There is something deeply backwards about living in a society where it is accepted that people can pay hundreds upon thousands upon millions to look starved, while the rest of us work tirelessly to make sure we do not actually starve. The difference is that one is considered a beauty choice and the other is considered poverty.
This is where body standards stop being about beauty and become about class. Being thin is often treated as though it is simply the result of discipline, self-control or wanting it badly enough. Money makes that process significantly easier. Just having the free time to exercise is a privilege. Someone who is working multiple jobs or worrying about whether they can afford their next meal does not have the same resources as someone who can spend a fortune maintaining their appearance.
What looks like a personal choice is often backed by an entire industry that makes money from convincing people that their bodies are not good enough. In the end, body standards have never really been just about the body. They are about who has the money, time and resources to make their body fit whatever society has decided is desirable at the moment.