This isn’t about getting fit and healthy. It’s about how beauty standards are enmeshed with the goal of self-improvement. Getty
This isn’t about getting fit and healthy. It’s about how beauty standards are enmeshed with the goal of self-improvement. Getty
This isn’t about getting fit and healthy. It’s about how beauty standards are enmeshed with the goal of self-improvement. Getty
This isn’t about getting fit and healthy. It’s about how beauty standards are enmeshed with the goal of self-improvement. Getty


A giant leap backwards for womankind


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January 03, 2025

“New year, new me!” We’ve all heard it. We’ve probably all said it, when these first few days of January roll around each year. Nothing wrong with fresh starts and new motivations.

But when it comes to its intersection with the pressures of beauty standards on women – and increasingly on men – it is far less benign than we might think. In fact, trying to be the “new” latest beauty ideal is the opposite of a fresh start and motivation that can deliver benefits.

It is, in fact, a surrender to the old trap in which women find themselves: their worth being judged by how well they measure up to an arbitrary societal beauty standard. Such beauty standards are, by their construction, also impossible to meet. And even if they are met, they are ever-changing.

The focus of this discussion isn’t about getting fit and healthy, or shedding the kilos that might have been amassed over an indulgent holiday period, or as in my case, the aftermath of grief and bereavement. It’s about how beauty standards are enmeshed with the goal of self-improvement. In fact, after some years of hopefulness in the West that lessons about self-esteem and tackling harmful fashion and beauty models were finally paying off, it feels like we are taking a giant step backwards.

The tightening of beauty standards at a time when women are seeking greater autonomy and pushing back on a revival of misogyny is, of course, no surprise. One of the greatest insults lobbed at women fighting for their rights is that they are “ugly”: a manifestation of the “beauty currency” that women are deemed to have. This beauty currency in the West right now is about youthfulness, fertility, traditional femininity (encapsulated by the “tradwife” movement) and a return to slimness even verging on the skinny.

Even children are now entangled in beauty standards, with those below 10 years following full blown skincare routines

We don’t need to look far to see how societal reaction to women asserting their rights is manifesting in the tightening of these beauty standards – and the worrying thing is how women themselves, particularly young women, are adopting these in a way that they see as empowering.

Take the case of preventive Botox, being adopted by women as young as 18, who are worried about their wrinkles (in their teen years!). The paradox of using a form of treatment to get ahead of wrinkles, but then may well cause wrinkles, should not be lost on us. Evidently, the fear of ageing is stronger than ever in youngsters.

There are two problems here. One is that it is often forgotten that wrinkles and ageing are impossible to cover up, because they happen to all women. Second – as I discovered when I researched and published a book for girls about what it means to be beautiful – beauty standards are always shifting.

In the Stone Age, voluptuous women were said to be all the rage, the puffy cherub “Rubenesque” types were once desirable, and then the 1990s and 2000s brought us “size zero” models along with the rise of eating disorders in teenage girls.

The skinny silhouette also seems to be back. The editor of Vogue magazine voiced her concerns at the end of last year of the return of especially skinny models. It ties in with the availability and desirability of Ozempic, a weight loss medication seen as a quick fix to reach that preferred body type.

A visual protest depicting Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg surfing on a wave of cash and flanked by women in distress, outside the US Capitol in Washington. AP
A visual protest depicting Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg surfing on a wave of cash and flanked by women in distress, outside the US Capitol in Washington. AP

Even children are now entangled in beauty standards, with those below 10 years following full blown skincare routines. My nine-year-old daughter is telling me how her peers have their own portfolio of products and bedtime processes.

Embracing such beauty standards is worryingly being seen as a form of empowerment, a way to push back on the “have it all” years of feminism.

But falling back to defining women’s worth by how well they adhere to an idealised form of femininity is to give credence to the idea that womanhood is defined by how you look, defined by others. It’s a trap to think that success lies in monetising a kind of beauty that is seen to diminish with age – even if social media can make it for a select few.

It’s a bitter pill, but when self-care is tied to harmful beauty ideals and reducing self-worth to beauty, self-care can become self-harm.

But there’s nothing new in that. Societal beauty ideals have usually been about making women feel that they are not quite good enough: not fair enough, not tall enough, not slim enough, not young enough, not smooth enough, not curvy enough. Not enough. It is usually about leaving women feeling bad about themselves.

Which is why the most revolutionary thing women and girls can do is to look in the mirror and feel good about what we see.

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

North Pole stats

Distance covered: 160km

Temperature: -40°C

Weight of equipment: 45kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 0

Terrain: Ice rock

South Pole stats

Distance covered: 130km

Temperature: -50°C

Weight of equipment: 50kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300

Terrain: Flat ice
 

Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction

Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.

Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.

Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.

Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.

Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.

What are the guidelines?

Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.

Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.

Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.

Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.

Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.

Source: American Paediatric Association
MATCH INFO

Osasuna 1 Real Madrid 4
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Real Madrid: Isco (33'), Ramos (38'), Vázquez (84'), Jovic (90' 2)

Australia tour of Pakistan

March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi  

March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi 

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi

March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi

April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi

April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi

THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick

Hometown: Cologne, Germany

Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)

Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes

Favourite hobby: Football

Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk

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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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Our legal advisor

Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation. 

Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.

Updated: January 05, 2025, 12:35 PM`