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Articles on Beauty standards

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If we want to see improvements in the lives of girls in Canada and beyond, we need to first think critically about why we tend to dismiss and invalidate their concerns. (Shutterstock)

Girls are in crisis — and their mental health needs to be taken seriously

In Canada, over 50 per cent of female students in Ontario have reported moderate to severe psychological distress. One in four girls has been sexually abused by the time they turn 18.
Selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) may be perceived as a safer muscle-building alternative to steroids. (Shutterstock)

Men are buying potentially risky steroid substitutes online to get the ‘ideal body’

Idealized standards for muscular, fat-free male bodies may be fuelling the use of SARMs, or selective androgen receptor modulators, unapproved muscle-building drugs that are easily available online.
In ancient China, India and the Middle East, the art of eyebrow threading was popular. It is now enjoying a resurgence. www.shutterstock.com

Friday essay: shaved, shaped and slit - eyebrows through the ages

Moulding eyebrows to make a statement is nothing new. A journey through history, across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States, shows some of the highs and lows of brow fashion.
Body ideals can often lead gay men into feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem and depression. The photographer captioned this image, ‘You just want to go in the fetal position and you kind of feel alone.’ (Moe)

How body ideals shape the health of gay men

In this photography-based research project, gay men document their struggles with body image, and challenge current beauty standards.
Individuals using indoor tanning are exposed to two types of UV rays – UVA and UVB – that damage skin and DNA and can lead to cancer, including the deadliest one: melanoma. Young users are most at risk. By Rido/shutterstock.com

Health clubs using tanning beds to attract members despite cancer risks, new study shows

Many gyms use free tanning beds to lure in new members who are eager to look and feel their best. But this, argues Sherry Pagoto, runs against the health lifestyle premise these gyms are advocating.
Intersectionality in action: Brazilian women are organizing across class and race lines to decry inequality in a country that remains deeply ‘machista.’ Naco Doce/Reuters

Beyond #MeToo, Brazilian women rise up against racism and sexism

Before #MeToo, Brazilian women launched #MyFirstHarrassment and marched for racial equality. Today, this feminist resurgence is tackling health care, plastic surgery, violence and more.
A 1928 cigarette card classifying an ‘Egyptian beauty’: these cards depicted women as exotic creatures, a trend that can still be seen at beauty contests today. Author provided

Classifying ‘national types of beauty’: from cigarette cards to Miss Universe

Collectable cigarette cards once depicted ‘exotic’ beauties, classified by the colonial eye. And today’s beauty contests still present women as exotic representatives of their nation.
Detail from Little Big Woman: Condescension, Debra Keenahan, 2017. Designed and made by Debra Keenahan, Photograph by Robert Brindley.

Friday essay: the female dwarf, disability, and beauty

For centuries, women with dwarfism were depicted in art as comic or grotesque fairytale beings. But artists are challenging these portrayals and notions of beauty and physical difference.

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