“Is being beautiful a burden or a praise?” by Miranda Toledo Wong

Nowadays, with the improvement of technology, the era has changed a lot. However, modern women  and girls in Hong Kong and China are facing different challenges such as gender discrimination,  employment opportunities and child marriage. In my point of view, I think unrealistic beauty standards  in society is the major challenge that they have been facing in recent years. In the following, I will be  discussing the challenges faced by women and solutions suggested to relieve the problems. 

To commence with, it is believed that the unrealistic beauty standards made by the public on the  Internet has been the biggest challenge faced by women and girls in both Hong Kong and China. The  unrealistic beauty standards have created an immense sense of pressure among teens to achieve a  perfect body. Standards such as being hairless all over the body, being slim with no tummy but big  butts, not having regular bodily fluid and gases or being all-around perfect Barbies, are all being  widespread on the Internet and different social media platforms. Some unpractical challenges even  went viral and are being spread on Instagram and Tik Tok. For example, A4 paper challenge in which  women are comparing the size of their waists to the width of a standard A4 sheet of paper. This latest  craze from China has involved mostly women holding up sheets of paper and taking selfies and they  “win” if the paper entirely obscures their waist. Another example is the earphone waist challenge in  which earphones are wrapped around the circumference of a girl's waist to show off how small it is.  Similarly, the collarbone challenge ‘proves’ how skinny and sexy they are. Although these challenges  are impractical, many of the girls are challenging them in order to prove they are beautiful enough.  

Moreover, underweight and photo-shopped models are everywhere and they act as examples of what  teenage girls should supposedly look like. Idol groups in Korea such as Blackpink, Twice, and Itzy  have become the final ultimate of beautiful idols for the teenage girls who are idolizing them. Women  are raised to live up to standards put upon them by society from a very young age. In order to implement  these standards, they have created unhealthy habits like going on a diet, and spending lots of money to  develop a perfect body. They might even spend their money on cosmetic surgery to attain a more  desirable appearance. They do surgeries such as breast augmentation, rhinoplasty and liposuction  which make them look like their Korean idols. If they are unable to achieve these standards, they will  get low self-esteem and think that they are failures. Being beautiful by achieving unrealistic standards  from society has created a big pressure for the women  and girls in Hong Kong and China, and thus it is believed that this is the biggest challenge faced by  them.  

Nonetheless, this challenge should be solved so as to lessen the impact on women in society. It is  proposed that the government should take the lead to tackle this problem. As mentioned above, these  standards are spread on social media platforms. The government should set up laws prohibiting people  from making impractical challenges that interpret unrealistic beauty standards. In addition, the  government should educate teens that the inner beauty of a person is more important than their  appearance and figures. They can educate the teens by promoting the information on the Internet and  holding talks. 

Apart from the government, it is suggested that the school could help ameliorate the issue. Schools  could hold a variety of activities aiming to explore the intrinsic beauty of teenage girls. Events about  sports, music or arts could help explore the unique characteristics of students, which are more alluring  than external appearance. Throughout the activities, students are able to explore their potential and  gain self-esteem from teachers' endorsement. They can obtain encouragement and increase confidence  in oneself.  

With the suggested solutions, it is believed that teens can get rid of their traditional mindset of being  beautiful by achieving unrealistic beauty standards from society. “Outer beauty attracts, but inner  beauty captivates,” said Kate Angell. Unrealistic beauty standards have brought challenges to women  and girls in society and it is important for them to know that inner beauty is always more attractive  than the externals. It is hoped that this challenge can be eradicated in the future and the teens can no  longer suffer from any of the negative impacts.