Podcast take 1

This episode of "Our Voices Matter" discusses beauty standards and their impact on self-esteem. Beauty standards are societal values applied to physical appearance. Social media and trends make it difficult to keep up with these standards, leading to insecurity. Beauty standards can lower self-esteem as they are often unachievable. Looks are marketed as important for acceptance and appreciation. Personalities and inner beauty are also important. Beauty standards condition us to think what is beautiful and what is not. Beauty can be expressed in ways other than visually, such as through personality. People often have expectations of beautiful individuals, assuming they are always well-liked and popular. Changing one's appearance through makeup or surgery is a personal choice. These standards affect both men and women. Welcome to the first ever episode of Our Voices Matter. I'm your host, Ava Tovar, Emily MacDowell, Michaela Myers, and Austin Webb. Today we'll break down the beauty standard and how it has affected our characters. First off, what is a beauty standard? Okay, here's the literal definition. Beauty standards are a set of values applied to the appearance of both men and women to be regarded as beautiful and handsome in order to rightly fit in the community. These standards are concerned with people's skin, hair, clothing, and other parts of the body. When you hear beauty standards, what comes to mind? I'm Emily MacDowell, and I'm here with... Michaela Myers. And today we're going to be interviewing Ella Corle. So, first off, does your view on your body or dream body change often? In my opinion, not really. I'm a me, but other people, yes. Does social media and trends make keeping up with beauty standards hard? Yes. There's like a standard that you have to reach, and social media makes it harder and makes people more insecure about themselves. How do beauty standards impact your self-esteem? How do beauty standards impact your self-esteem? I feel that at some points they can lower your self-esteem because it's like an unachievable thing. How is looks marketed? I feel people think they need to reach a certain standard to be liked or appreciated. How often do you think about beauty or look? No, I don't really think about it that much. Do you think you have the same view on beauty as your friends and peers? I think I care more about personality and people I know are more focused on how they look and how people see them and how other people look. Is beauty and looks important to you? When I think of beauty, I think of your personality. I don't think looks are necessarily important to me. Do you think we are conditioned to think what is beautiful and what is not? Yeah. Sorry, my headphones cut. It's not working. Shit. Okay, working. What was the question? Do you think we are conditioned to think what is beautiful and what is not? Yeah, I think there is an unachievable beauty standard out there that people think they need to reach but you can't reach it because no one is perfect. What causes us to think that a certain thing is beautiful? Beauty standards. Are there other ways to be beautiful other than visually? Personality. What do you expect from beautiful people? Like a really well-liked, really popular, hot person. I feel like people assume they never had a bad day. They are not mean. And if they are mean, then they are a terrible person because they had a bad day. What is your opinion on people changing their looks through makeup, surgery, piercing, tattoos, etc.? I think if that's what you like and you're comfortable and it makes you happy, then do whatever you want. It's your body, your choice. When you talk about beauty standards, most people think that guys don't have struggles or opinions. But here's a guy's perspective on it. Thank you, Ella Cole, for coming in today and sharing your opinion. Thank you. How do beauty standards impact your self-esteem? How do beauty standards impact your self-esteem? I actually kind of feel like they don't very much. But in the way that they do, like if I look in the mirror, you know, and I'm like slightly... So let's get back into it. Let's continue.