The Ever-Changing Standard Of Beauty

There’s a growing debate on social media platforms about why women with a particular ‘look’ are celebrated above others in our society – with some even claiming they are being fetishised by men. But Cape Townbased plastic surgeon Dr Nerina Wilkinson explains how perceptions of beauty are forever shifting due to the celebrity-driven world we live in.

- Yolisa Mjamba

1 IT’S A LIFESTYLE

The Kardashians are considered some of the most beautiful and influential people in the world, and many women are going under the knife in order to achieve their defining attributes: golden skin tone, accentuated hips, full lips. But this phenomenon, however, is nothing new. Renaissance painters like Peter Paul Rubens praised the curvy female shape in his artworks, as this was considered a symbol of beauty, womanhood, fertility and sexuality.

We have now returned from the thin, Twiggyinspired model to the fuller sexual female form. However, people are not just enticed by the reality stars’ looks, they want their lifestyles, too. This has resulted in a more exaggerated version of the aesthetic being depicted.

2 PREFERENCE VS FETISH