Beauty Standards and Conditional Worth

BY NICOLE LAU

Series: Locus and Body - Worth in Embodiment (Part 2 of 6)

"Thin is beautiful. Fat is ugly."

"Young is desirable. Old is worthless."

"White skin is superior. Dark skin is inferior."

These are beauty standards—cultural norms that dictate which bodies are considered valuable and which are not.

And they are conditional worth in embodied form. You are valuable if your body meets the standards. You are worthless if it does not.

This article explores cultural beauty norms as external locus, the beauty industry as worth-selling machine, and aging, disability, and worth loss.

Cultural Beauty Norms as External Locus

What Are Beauty Standards?

Beauty standards are culturally specific norms that define which physical characteristics are considered attractive, desirable, or acceptable.

These standards vary across:

• Culture - What is beautiful in one culture may not be in another
• Time - Beauty standards change over decades and centuries
• Context - Different standards for different genders, ages, classes

But despite their variability, beauty standards share common features:

Characteristics of Beauty Standards

1. Narrow and Exclusive

Beauty standards are narrow—only a small range of body types are deemed acceptable.

Examples:

• Thinness (especially for women)
• Youth (wrinkle-free, firm skin)
• Able-bodiedness (no visible disability)
• Specific facial features (symmetry, certain proportions)
• Specific skin tones (often lighter skin in many cultures)
• Specific hair textures (often straight hair in Western contexts)

Most people do not naturally fit these standards.

2. Arbitrary and Constructed

Beauty standards are not natural or universal—they are socially constructed.

Evidence:

• In some cultures, larger bodies are considered beautiful (sign of wealth and health)
• In the past, pale skin was prized (sign of not working outdoors); now tanned skin is often preferred
• Different eras have different ideal body shapes (curvy in 1950s, thin in 1990s, curvy again in 2010s)

If beauty standards were natural, they would not vary so dramatically.

3. Unattainable for Most

Beauty standards are designed to be unattainable for most people without extreme effort, deprivation, or modification.

Examples:

• Maintaining extreme thinness requires chronic dieting or disordered eating for many
• Maintaining youthful appearance requires expensive products, procedures, or surgery
• Achieving certain features requires cosmetic surgery or digital alteration

Even models and celebrities often do not meet standards without professional styling, lighting, and photo editing.

4. Enforced Through Punishment

Beauty standards are enforced—deviation is punished through:

• Social rejection - People with non-conforming bodies are excluded, mocked, or invisible
• Economic discrimination - Attractive people earn more, get hired more, are promoted more
• Romantic devaluation - Non-conforming bodies are deemed undesirable
• Violence - Fat-shaming, racist beauty standards, ableism, transphobia

Beauty Standards as Conditional Worth

When beauty standards are internalized, they become worth standards:

"I am valuable if my body meets beauty standards. I am worthless if it does not."

This is body external locus. Worth depends on conforming to arbitrary, narrow, unattainable standards.

The Beauty Industry: Selling Worth

How the Beauty Industry Works

The beauty industry (cosmetics, fashion, diet, fitness, anti-aging, plastic surgery) is a multi-trillion-dollar global industry.

It does not just sell products—it sells worth.

The Business Model

Step 1: Create Inadequacy

"Your natural body is not enough. You have flaws. You are not beautiful as you are."

The industry creates or amplifies insecurity about your body.

Step 2: Offer Solution

"But if you buy this product, use this procedure, follow this program, you can be beautiful."

The industry offers products as solutions to the inadequacy it created.

Step 3: Promise Worth

"Be beautiful and you will be worthy. You will be loved, desired, successful, happy."

The industry promises that beauty = worth. And worth can be purchased.

Step 4: Ensure Failure

The products do not deliver lasting worth (because worth cannot be purchased). So you keep buying.

This is the beauty treadmill—you keep consuming but never arrive at worth.

Examples Across Industries

1. Diet Industry

Message: "You are too fat. Lose weight and you will be worthy."

Reality: 95% of diets fail long-term. The industry profits from repeated failure.

2. Anti-Aging Industry

Message: "Aging is ugly. Fight aging and you will be worthy."

Reality: Aging is inevitable. The industry profits from fear of natural process.

3. Cosmetics Industry

Message: "Your natural face is not enough. Enhance it and you will be worthy."

Reality: Makeup is temporary. You must keep buying.

4. Plastic Surgery Industry

Message: "Your body is flawed. Modify it and you will be worthy."

Reality: Surgery is risky, expensive, and often leads to more procedures. Worth is not achieved.

The Harm

• Financial exploitation - Billions spent on products that do not deliver worth
• Physical harm - Disordered eating, surgery complications, toxic products
• Psychological harm - Chronic inadequacy, body hatred, external locus
• Systemic inequality - Beauty standards reinforce racism, ableism, ageism, sexism

Aging, Disability, and Worth Loss

Aging: The Inevitable Worth Threat

In cultures that equate youth with beauty and beauty with worth, aging is worth loss.

The Pattern

"I am valuable when I am young and beautiful. I am aging. Therefore, I am losing worth."

Manifestations

• Fear of aging - Wrinkles, gray hair, sagging skin are seen as catastrophic
• Anti-aging obsession - Desperate attempts to stop or reverse aging
• Invisibility - Older people (especially women) become socially invisible
• Internalized ageism - "I am old. I am ugly. I am worthless."

Example: A woman turns 50. She looks in the mirror and sees wrinkles. She feels worthless. She spends thousands on anti-aging products and procedures. But aging continues. She feels like she is disappearing.

Disability: The Body "Failure"

In ableist cultures, disability is seen as body failure. And body failure = worthlessness.

The Pattern

"I am valuable when my body functions 'normally.' My body is disabled. Therefore, I am worthless."

Manifestations

• Ableism - Systemic discrimination against disabled people
• Invisibility or pity - Disabled people are either invisible or objects of pity
• Desexualization - Disabled people are deemed sexually undesirable
• Internalized ableism - "My body is broken. I am broken. I am worthless."

Example: A person becomes disabled after an accident. They internalize: My body failed. I am no longer whole. I am no longer worthy. I am a burden.

The Intersection: Aging + Disability

For people who are both aging and disabled, the worth threat is compounded. They face both ageism and ableism.

"I am old and disabled. I am doubly worthless."

Challenging Beauty Standards from Internal Locus

The Shift

External locus: "I am valuable if my body meets beauty standards. I am worthless if it does not."

Internal locus: "I am valuable in this body, regardless of whether it meets arbitrary standards. Beauty standards are constructed, not truth. My worth is inherent."

What This Enables

1. Body Acceptance

"My body is worthy as it is. I do not need to conform to standards to be valuable."

2. Aging Without Terror

"I am aging. This is natural. I am still valuable."

3. Disability Without Shame

"My body is disabled. I am still whole. I am still valuable."

4. Freedom from Beauty Industry

"I do not need to buy worth. I am already worthy."

5. Challenging Systemic Standards

"These standards are harmful. I can resist them and advocate for change."

Practice: Challenging Beauty Standards

Reflection Questions

1. Do I believe my worth depends on meeting beauty standards?
2. Which beauty standards have I internalized?
3. Do I fear aging or disability as worth loss?
4. Do I buy products to purchase worth?
5. Can I see beauty standards as constructed, not truth?

Practices for Body Internal Locus

1. Name the Standards

"These are beauty standards. They are arbitrary, constructed, and harmful. They are not truth."

2. Affirm Inherent Worth

"I am valuable in this body, regardless of standards. My worth is inherent."

3. Challenge the Beauty Industry

"I do not need to buy worth. I am already worthy."

4. Embrace Aging

"Aging is natural. I am valuable at every age."

5. Honor Disability

"Disability is part of human diversity. I am valuable whether able-bodied or disabled."

What Comes Next

We have explored beauty standards and conditional worth. The next article examines Sexuality and Worth—sexual desirability as worth, sexual performance anxiety, and embodied sexuality from internal locus.

This is where we explore the intimate connection between sexuality and worth.