Photo Assignment

 

From: Ava

I chose to capture the topic of unrealistic beauty standards on adolescent girls. I took a picture of my niece Emma (5) in her mom’s bathroom playing with the makeup on the counter. She’s staring at the mirror, thinking a million things that she can’t communicate. At as young as five, girls are already trying to change themselves. Most of this change comes from girls seeing the standards put on the women in their lives and adopt the norms as their own. The look on Emma’s face almost illustrates defeat; she shows how even when she tries to fit into the norms, she still doesn’t feel good about how she looks. Girls keep getting younger and younger when they start coming to the realization that society has specific views on what a woman should look like; Emma still holding a stuffed chick shows how young she still is, and how this unnecessary pressure of looking a certain way impacts her ability to grow up with a healthy mindset. Another important factor is the number of products that are on the counter. The surplus of products just re-enforces the idea that young girls and women need to go out and get any product that says it will make them beautiful.