A moral obligation:social media in the aesthetics landscape

As the summer days begin to wane and autumn rears its head, many of us associate this with the beginning of colder days and longer nights, while others see this seasonal crossover as a chance to shed old habits, develop our characters and, pardon the pun, turn over a new leaf.

One such development within the aesthetics landscape that shows no sign of ceasing is the ongoing rise of social media. Over the last few years, we have seen a transformation from efforts to delay the effects of ageing to younger women seeking to achieve the ‘perfect’ body through various enhancement procedures. Studies have shown that dissatisfaction with one's body begins in childhood. Growing up, most children have access to the internet within their home, with statistics showing that this figure lies at around 96% in adolescent girls (Tiggemann and Slater, 2013). Images, which are easily accessible at the click of a button, presented to young girls and women show so-called ‘perfect’ bodies, which, in reality, are airbrushed and edited, yet are presented as natural. These beliefs merely manifest further as children grow older and enter adulthood, with approximately only 12% of women claiming to be happy with their bodies (Cameron et al, 2018). Young women may seek out aesthetic practitioners in an effort to achieve this ‘ideal’ body through aesthetic procedures, which then raises the question of how to carry out ethical aesthetic practice.