Being Venus; on the delusion of beauty

Being a woman is to be put in a casket of who you should be from the day you are born. I have seen baby girls who just came out of the womb being appraised on how beautiful they are, and seen mothers thinking of what beauty procedure their daughters might need when they grow up, and it makes me wonder where this obsession starts and ends. And how much will women tolerate?

If I try to answer the first question, I find myself lost in thoughts since there is not much research on the matter because not everyone deems it important.  Some people claim that beauty standards started with racism or evolution but it would not be this oversaturated without capitalism pushing it down our throats any chance they get. 

Have you noticed how almost everything is marketed towards women? Anti-aging creams as if aging is a crime, a punishment, it only happens to us women and we should be ashamed of it, try to hide it, lie about our age, or get preventive botox in our 20s so we don’t look so old. Then you have skincare, buy creams, serums, toners, and cleansers because it is supposedly the new form of “self-care” as if you were nothing but your face. Buy makeup, so much of it, expensive makeup so you can brag about it to all your friends, so you can take pictures of it for your Instagram so that you do not miss out on the newest viral product.

Oh, how I wish it stops there, it doesn't. You should also get a few injections and plastic surgeries because everyone around you is doing it, changing your face and your body completely to become someone unrecognizable, someone who looks more like an anime character than a human being. Turning into a plastic doll. Now let us be very careful approaching this subject since it is marketed as “gaining self-confidence, and having agency over your body and looks” as if the lack of self-confidence did not originate from young girls seeing influencers, celebrities, and now even their friends and older women in their families doing all these things to become someone they are not. To wear this persona of being the ideal woman, the ideal woman for who? 

You see, it is a never-ending cycle. First, they influence the rich to do it, then they pay millions on advertisements that point out flaws you never even knew you had, you open the internet and on each platform, there are these influencers who are oh just so obsessed with this new product they got, and they look so pretty, so perfect, and you start to think to yourself why do I not look like her? If I buy this product she’s using, then maybe it will bring me a step closer to being the ideal woman.

Under capitalism, beauty is commodified and marketed as a product that can be bought and sold. Capitalist economies thrive on consumerism, it creates this tie between personal identity, social status, and consumption patterns. It equates physical appearance with self-worth and success. Women are shown this idealized image of beauty that is difficult to achieve without interventions, creating a demand for consumption. You start to feel the need to undergo cosmetic procedures to compete in the job market or to meet societal expectations of femininity. This creates a feedback loop where increased demand for these procedures further normalizes them in popular culture.

The beauty industry capitalizes on insecurities and the desire for social mobility, positioning beauty enhancements as a means to achieve success and happiness. Fashion, entertainment, and media industries are closely linked with the cosmetic industry, creating a symbiotic relationship where beauty standards are reinforced across various platforms. These industries collectively influence public perceptions of beauty. 

These marketing tactics exploit traditional gender roles and expectations, pushing women towards continuous self-improvement through consumption. The rise in cosmetic procedures has been linked to an increase in body dysmorphic disorder, where individuals obsess over perceived flaws in their appearance. Capitalist marketing exacerbates BDD by constantly highlighting imperfections and promoting unattainable beauty ideals.

Now to avoid sounding like a hypocrite, I adore beauty just not the one pushed on us to conform to. I find beauty in the blurred lines, in how a woman glows when she’s dressed in something she loves. I find beauty in smile lines that are marks of how she lived. I find beauty in a woman being unapologetically herself. I do not want to live in a world where my beautiful friends feel the need to change how they look to be prettier according to systems that discourage young women from embracing their natural beauty. I do not want to have a daughter who will grow up hating herself because she does not look like the girls on the screens. I am so sick and tired of trying to find my “middle ground” of not being too masculine or too feminine, not wearing too much makeup to not look fake but to wear enough to not look sick to others 

I want you to find beauty in the way you are because the truth is, you naturally would if another image was not pushed on you even before you realized it, and if this sounds like another love yourself speech believe me it is not. This is a call to invest in yourself in ways that are unconventional. 

Burn and glow in your own sense. Fashion and beauty only stand out when they are a reflection of the person, not the other way around. Find what you love deep down in your soul and wear it bravely, that is how remarkable women are made.

Written in English by: Tabark Hassan

Edited in English by Tarneem Maitham, Noor Al-Huda Talib & Murtaja Talib

Translated to Arabic by: Noor Al-Huda Talib Jasim

Edited in Arabic by: Tarneem Maitham & Murtaja Talib

Translated to Kurdish by: Saya Amr HamaAli

Edited in Kurdish: Sanaria Tahsin