Every generation has answered that question differently. The Victorian era admired pale skin and tightly corseted figures, while the 1990s celebrated and praised tall, slim supermodels.
Today, beauty standards are increasingly shaped by social media, where algorithms repeatedly promote particular features, from full lips and flawless skin to tiny button noses and the latest cosmetic trends.
With repeated exposure, these images can begin to feel less like passing trends and more like expectations everyone is supposed to meet.
Growing up with beauty standards
For young people growing up in the digital age, beauty standards can influence more than how they feel about their appearance. They can also shape their confidence and sense of self-worth.
For 19-year-old university student Sienna Watt, that pressure began years before she had the words to describe it.
“I noticed how certain people were praised for their clear skin, straight hair and thin bodies, while others were quietly overlooked,” she said.
Looking back, she said those observations followed her into high school, where appearance started to feel less like a personal characteristic and more like something people were judged on.
“By Year 7, I realised beauty wasn’t something you just felt. It was something you were measured against,” Ms Watt said.
As social media became part of her everyday life for Ms Watt, that feeling only grew stronger.
Ms Watt said endless images of influencers, celebrities and carefully curated feeds created an ideal that seemed impossible to keep up with.
“I remember getting ready for my school ball and feeling like no matter what I did, I couldn’t make myself look how I wanted,” Ms Watt said.
Her experience reflects a much broader trend.
The Butterfly Foundation’s BodyKind Youth Survey 2024 found 95 per cent of respondents reported some level of concern about their body image.
The survey also found that 57 per cent were dissatisfied with their appearance, while 62 per cent said social media contributed to their body image concerns.
When online trends meet real life
Sandra Vinciguerra, an aesthetics nurse at Revive and Renew, has watched expectations around beauty change throughout her career.
“Beauty standards are shaped by social media, celebrities, influencers, brands and the algorithms and trends people see every day,” Ms Vinciguerra said.
She believes beauty standards are no longer shaped by one source but by a constant stream of online content.
Repeated exposure to the same faces has changed the way people judge themselves.
“People aren’t comparing themselves with other people anymore. They’re comparing themselves with highly filtered, highly digitised versions of faces,” she said.
Those comparisons often continue once patients walk into her clinic.
Ms Vinciguerra said many arrive with screenshots from Instagram or TikTok, hoping to recreate someone else’s appearance.
Rather than trying to copy the image, Ms Vinciguerra uses it to understand what they like and whether their expectations are realistic.
“The danger is people compare themselves to these highly digitised images and think, ‘I’m flawed because I don’t look like this,’” she said.
Ms Vinciguerra said one of the hardest parts of her job is helping people separate what they see online from what is achievable in real life.
In some cases, the most ethical decision is not to treat the patient at all.
“There are times when the most appropriate treatment I can offer someone is no treatment at all,” she said.
In Ms Viniciguerra opinion, cosmetic medicine should never erase a person’s individuality.
“I never want someone leaving my clinic looking like somebody else. I want them to leave looking like themselves but a more confident version,” Ms Vinciguerra said.
Ms Watt believes industries built around appearance have helped create those expectations.
“Fashion brands, beauty companies and influencers all shape beauty standards,” Ms Watt said.
Although she still feels the influence of social media, her own definition of beauty has changed over time.
“When I was younger, beauty felt like a checklist that you were being pushed to achieve,” she said.
”Now it’s about confidence, kindness and being comfortable with who you are.”
Beauty standards may change with every generation, but the pressure to meet them remains. Perhaps the more important question is how young people can learn to define beauty on their own terms.
Ellie Palmer
Ellie Palmer is a Journalism and Broadcast Media student at Edith Cowan University with a passion for TV journalism and live broadcasting. She enjoys telling engaging stories, speaking with people and bringing important issues to life.
