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Key points
- Modern culture glorifies models and beauty influencers, but we don't have to.
- Understanding how easily our brains default to accept popular trends can help us rebel against them.
- Who we accept as our role models and our influencers is our choice.
Way back in 2006, author and advocate Audrey Braschich wrote a wonderful little book entitled All Made Up.* Braschich, a former child fashion model, wanted to provide girls with a look inside the beauty and media industries, the illusions and pressure they create, and help girls feel better about themselves.
Little did she know of what was to come by way of social media and the proliferation of beauty influencers; she was a canary in the coal mine. I recall the book was originally titled Culture of Modeling using the term Braschich had previously coined for the disproportionate influence fashion models have in our culture.
Fast forward to 2023, when many of us are fairly obsessed with posing and posting, and models and now other influencers are even more constantly showing us how we should look and act through social media. Troubling research from this year (as well as what we glean from our children, students, patients, and selves) shows us that exposure to advertising by influencers on social media is directly related to lower satisfaction with ourselves.
Audrey was an early investigator, thinker, and writer on the way we blindly accept and idolize fashion models as influencers. She was by no means advocating that we should hate and get rid of all models, but rather question why they were so extraordinarily important in relation to how we think about ourselves and our own aspirations.
When teaching media literacy regarding body image and self-image today, I ask students to think about what someone (especially a woman) modeling or posing in a picture is saying to us. They want us to look at them, pay attention to how they look. Why? Because they are wearing interesting clothing, sporting the latest cosmetic product or hairstyle, or showing us the fitness or shape of their body.
We know why they are doing it, at least when we stop to think about it; often, it's because they're getting paid. But the next question we can ask is: Why do we care so much?
1. We are communal beings.
Science tells us that social influence is a powerful force in nature. Copying what others do can be useful in many situations; for example, in animals, which way to move or whether a situation is dangerous is important in keeping the herd alive. As humans, we feel safety and comfort in numbers as well, happily following advice from our friends, valuing conformity, and following trends.
Scientists tell us we often mimic those around us by default, and when "cognitive resources are constrained by time pressure or load"; in other words, when we are overwhelmed or confused. But they also warn that evolution (and arguably the advent of mass media) has led many of us to overuse social information and copy others much more than we should.
2. Fun.
Feeling like we're part of a group or trend can feel good, and can be associated with the release of the "bliss hormone" oxytocin in our brains. And to many—women especially, but certainly not exclusively—following trends in clothing, hair, makeup, and fitness feels fun and entertaining. We associate that fun with those who "start it."
3. Habit.
Getting us to follow what fashion models, popstars, and other influencers do, wear, or say has been part of the fashion and entertainment industries' profit "m.o.," and our way of life, for centuries. But it's interesting to ask—with no hatred in mind—do we really need models and influencers?
There will always be things to see and buy that we think will enhance our appearance, be fun to have, wear, etc. Are we capable of buying and looking the way we want to, without someone to show us how we should?
While it's pretty unrealistic in our commercial culture to think advertising based on aspirations of beauty and fitness would just go away, challenging our habits and perspectives—our culture's and our own—can be enlightening and empowering. We could look at a post or magazine or billboard image of a face or a body, and say to ourselves, "Why are you here? Why are you important?" (Or, as the saying goes, "What have you done for me lately?")
We might ask ourselves, "Is showing me someone else's face or body something that helps me, makes me feel better about myself, or improves my life today?" If the answer is no, that's a valid reason to curate your digital world to decrease negative influences and feelings. It doesn't mean we are petty, hateful people or that we should be ashamed of our feelings. They are feelings millions and millions of people are also having.
Another question when looking at images of people pictured and posted for their physical beauty may be: "Beyond having a certain kind of face or body, what have you accomplished? what do you stand for?" Happily, there are models and beauty influencers who have accomplished and stand for important things in the world.
We might try to hold anyone who's a "model" or influencer to the same standard we (hopefully) hold everyone else we admire to: "Are you a good, interesting, successful, or inspirational person?" If the answer is yes, terrific! Another wonderful human being in the world—cause for happiness. But if we think that answer is no, or we don't know, then questioning what they have to offer you, why they are in your life, in your sight, in your feed, is absolutely legitimate, even beneficial.
Questioning the meaning and importance of something is not the same as hate. Ideally, we should have free minds and free decision-making about our values. Once we are aware of a natural tendency to go with the “social default,” we can rebel and make more conscious decisions for ourselves. Neuroscience tells us that independent thinking can create new neural pathways in our brains, making further independent thinking easier.
We all have aspirations, but culture can shape and change them, especially in our culture of influencers. Aspirations are the beginning of a path that can lead to who you become and what you choose to do with your time, your money, your career, and your life.
Historically, women (as well as other disenfranchised populations) have been discouraged and omitted from trying to play more substantial, less superficial roles in society. Even today, women and other historically marginalized groups are not represented equally in leadership and governance, business, technology, and other areas that yield power, influence, and wealth. Aspirations matter, and what influences us in our aspirations matters.
A new perspective on the role of models and influencers, and who we let become our role models can significantly change who we are, and who we want to—and will—become.
References
* The title was used again in Rae Nudson's more recent book on beauty and culture, from 2021.
