Having
returned from university for the summer, I was sitting at home scrolling
through my Instagram newsfeed almost mechanically (a position I have no doubt
many other students find themselves in) until a post made me stop and question
why are we as a society constantly striving to look the same? Why are we made
to feel inadequate and forced to change the way we are in order to align
ourselves with a desired look which someone has coerced us into believing is
the norm? The post I came upon was another reminder of the ways advertising and
social media continually manipulates society and how sadly many young people
are growing up hating the way they look, believing that they fail to fit the
prescribed ‘look’ for their gender.
