Our society values intelligence and those with brains that can set a course and achieve their academic and employment goals. As a female, our society also tends to first judge a book by its cover. The pressure to be beautiful—hair, makeup, weight-wise and fashion, is a heavy burden that all women feel. Generation Next females say they are feeling the burden to be both intelligent and beautiful and it is leading to stress.
If you pay attention to the tabloid magazines and TV shows, there is not a female in Hollywood that is thrown amongst the pages because they are intelligent. In fashion and beauty magazines, only gorgeous women (and men) grace the pages. It appears, and can be quite confusing to impressionable teens, that you can only be truly happy if you have the latest hairstyle, wear the latest makeup trends or are a certain weight. Meanwhile, in the real world, your looks won’t land you that job (ok maybe sometimes), it won’t help you climb the corporate ladder and certainly won’t pay your rent. You need to have brains to make it in life.
Synovate, an international research firm, did a study of 1000 U.S. teens and 20-somethings regarding this topic. What I found most interesting, is that these young ladies thought everything would change once they were in their 30’s. Confirming this theory, Nita Mary McKinley a Professor at the University of Washington-Tacoma, did a follow-up study on Body Image, that she had done 10 years prior, showed that those in their 30’s did indeed feel better about their bodies. I’m not sure I 100% agree. At 32, I can tell you that there are times when I don’t care so much what others think about how I look, but for the most part, that overwhelming sense of people judging me on my looks seems to always remain present. Quite possibly it has to do with being in the beauty industry or possibly because I lived through three decades of pressure to live up to the status quo of what our society feels is beautiful.
However, at the same time, I wouldn’t be where I am without my intellect. I’m very proud of the Bachelors Degree I hold in Psychology and all of the accomplishments I have made over the years that required intelligence and brain power. So have things really changed from my generation (X) to the generation of today?
I’m interested to hear what other 30-somethings think. Do you feel more comfortable in your skin than you did in your teens and twenties? Or do you still feel the pressure that you need to maintain a certain weight or look a certain way? Did you ever feel the pressure to be both brainy and beautiful?
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