Stop Lookism Now
Lookism is a very serious social issue that is commonly seen in our everyday lives, yet is not recognized as a serious issue that our society should work together to fix. This website will directly tackle the issue on lookism including, What is lookism?, Where did lookism come from? Who are the victims of lookism? Why is lookism lethal?, What can we do to fight against lookism, and etc. This website also contains some videos that could help you understand what lookism could lead up to and how it can affect humans. Also, there are some inspiring quotes related to lookism. In the end, there are some suggestions proposed on what we could do to stop lookism.
What is lookism?
As the word indicates, lookism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s appearance. It is one of the newer “isms” that has started to appear as the society started to heighten the importance of appearance more and more, that at times, it becomes more important than their personality, morality, or anything else. Although it is inevitable to have a first impression of a person based on their looks, but once people start to discriminate or prejudice someone solely because of this it, could lead to some serious problems. People who are discriminated would be under a serious pressure and stress to get in the set standard of what others believe is to look “good” or “beautiful”. This could lead to some destructive mental illnesses, such as depression, bulimia, anorexia, and even death in the most extreme case. We, as a global community, must work together to stop lookism that is created by the society.
Where does it come from?
-Fashion and beauty industries-
The standard of beauty has become being is skinny, tall and white for girls, and being tall and muscular for men in most cultures. Then where did these standard of beauty/ handsomeness come from? Who set this? In most cases, fashion or beauty industries are responsible for creating these social stereotypes of beauty. This is because they force or give pressure to their models to fit their own standard of beauty they have set. Young teenager models in particular could easily get eating disorders such as anorexia due the harsh environment they are put in. What is even worse is when people see these models or celebrities and decided to become like one of them. As technology developed, pictures/ videos of the celebrities/ models are seen more frequently in magazines, TV, internet, social media, and so on. This has made it easier for the society to adapt the set definition of beauty by these industries. Teenagers in particular are easily affected as they tend to have more interest in celebrities and tend to have more interest in their appearance.
To read about Georginia, a young victim of the model industry, click "Read More" below.
Why is it so lethal?
Lookism is a very unfamiliar word to most of the people since the current society does not recognized lookism as a serious. In fact, most of the people do not even realize themselves prejudicing or discriminating others based on their looks. However, we must not forget that lookism has the potential to destroy a person and their life. As lookism gives pressure for people to fit within the boundary of “beauty” that the society has set, many people goes through great amount of pressure and stress. This could lead to serious physical and mental illnesses such as, depression, anorexia, bulimia, obsessional neurosis, and even death when these illnesses are not treated properly.
Video
I'm beautiful...
How can we help?
What can we do to help stop lookism now?
It may seem very challenging to stop lookism completely as it is almost like a first impression we get from people automatically. However, it is an issue that must be discussed and debated in order to create a happier and healthier society for all. These are some things that we could do.
1. Stop ourselves - you should first stop ourselves from prejudicing or discriminating others based on their looks.
2. Spread awareness - you could spread awareness by simply talking about it with people, or could go further and write about lookism in school or local newspapers.
3. Support/ start a campaign - you could support a campaign that already exists, or could even start one on your own.
4. Sending letters - you could send an email or a letter to fashion/ beauty industries asking them to use various types of models (have various race)
5. Boycott - you could boycott fashion or beauty companies that use models that are underweight or only use models from a few race
Quotes about lookism...
There is no true definition of beauty and it is not something that could be defined by anyone in the world. One thing that we must never forget is that how a person looks outside is not all that matters, but how the person looks inside is indeed what really matters. Here are some great, inspiring quotes that could help you understand that there always are so many things that are way more important and valuable than a person’s weight, height, eye colour, hair colour, etc.
