By Aeisya Mardhiyyah
Nowadays, we are living in a society where our physical appearances define who we are. Girls are especially girls terrified to gain weight and are continually reminded by the media of various new diet products in the market and the value in weight loss.
Based on a recent survey by Nicole Hawkins, only 2% of women in the world would describe themselves as “beautiful.”
You can see that people especially young adults are obsessed to achieve the beauty standard to the extent that they are willing to spend a lot of money on supplements, facial treatments and even drips and injections from illegal clinics to fulfil the typical standards of beauty.
You need to have fair skin, a slim body, and a sharp nose just to be called beautiful and people tend to take this thing very seriously.
There are lots of pills, supplements, skin care products that are being widely promoted especially through the social media to attract people who strive to be beautiful at a cheaper cost.
According to the Ministry of Health, there are approximately 14,200 unregistered cosmetic products and 47 of them are confirmed to contain dangerous substances such as tretinoin and mercury.
Despite the bad consequences that are being warned by the doctors and the ban of some products by the health authorities, some ignorant people still consume these products because they feel insecure with their own body.
The idea of beauty is changing in our society from time to time. Everyone has their own opinion of what is beautiful. However, the opinion that people mostly have is based on what is commonly portrayed by the media.
So, the question is who has the right to determine who is beautiful? My answer to this question is no one. No one has the right to implement her vision of beauty. It is not like a dress code where everybody is forced to dress the same way. Everybody has the right to her perception of beauty, but after all, you cannot influence someone to have the same perception as you.
If we keep on focusing on attaining the beauty standard, this will lead to us being exposed to the risk of having even more dangerous diseases that could lead to death such as bulimia nervosa where one is having a severe life-threatening eating disorder caused by poor self-esteem and negative body image.
There are a few ways of overcoming the insecurities on beauty standard. In my opinion, instead of focusing on achieving the standard of beauty, we should focus more on something beneficial to us, for example, getting closer to Allah because sooner or later, it is our deeds that are going to be accounted for by Him.
Furthermore, make academics as our priority especially for students like us. I am not saying that it is wrong spending money to beautify yourself for your satisfaction but focus more on improving your academic performance because in the end, our grades are not determined by physical appearances.
Thirdly, start to pay more attention to our attitude, our personality and our behaviour because our looks do not last forever. Beauty is not always about how we look, but it can also be about how we act. be more kind towards people, treat them like how you want to be treated, and appreciate them as long-lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.
Remember that your overall health is what truly matters.
The beauty of a person should not only be based on physical aspects, but we should put more importance on the differences they make for our world, their talent, uniqueness, and the way of standing in what we believe in.
Allah SWT created all the beautiful things in this world: the sun, the stars, the flowers. He also created us.
You are no mistakes and the mistakes that you do make help you become the person you were meant to become.
You do not need to conform to what society defines as beautiful or attractive. You are beautiful in your own way.
“Beauty is when you can appreciate yourself. When you love yourself, that’s when you’re most beautiful.” – Zoe Kritz.***