Your pores are too visible, your stomach is too big, your hair is too textured, your skin is too dark or perhaps not dark enough and apparently, even your armpits need a makeover. When did being a woman become a never-ending list of things to fix?

Margaret Lewis, a history professor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, explained that beauty standards reflect more than personal taste.

“Whatever’s going on with politics is often reflected in the beauty standards,” Lewis said. She argues that the beauty industry creates insecurities it claims to solve.

“A company needs to sell something, and if they see an audience for that thing, they might create an audience for that thing by telling you, ‘you are insufficient in some way’,” Lewis said.

“Insufficient” is a convenient word for an industry that profits from convincing women they are never quite enough.

Lewis pointed to advertisements targeting features women might have never considered flaws. One of the newest targets are armpits, with new products being released such as brightening deodorants, specialized masks and underarm treatments. Seemingly normal features, such as bumps or razor burns, are considered problems in the beauty industry that need to be fixed.

“Why are our armpits a thing of beauty?” asked Lewis. “They’re imperfect, so we have to fix them?”

Apparently, existing in a normal human body is a whole new target for beauty companies.

But whose bodies are considered beautiful in the first place? Lewis explained that “white features have been upheld as the standard of beauty, while features associated with black women can become more acceptable when white women adopt them.”

Eriona Pillow, a social work student from Arlington, Tennessee, described the pressure on Black women to conform to Eurocentric ideals. Discussing hair straightening, she said some expectations seem designed to make black women “imitate or get as close to white people so that they can feel comfortable for themselves.”

Pillow’s thoughts were blunt: “I think that’s really messed up.”

She also described how the standards can make brown-skinned girls feel “unwanted”.

That is the problem with treating one appearance as ideal: someone else is made to feel like the exception. Pillow acknowledged that some beauty companies genuinely try to represent more people of color, particularly companies founded by people of color. Representation matters, but featuring diverse faces does not automatically erase the standards that make women of color feel excluded.

And the pressure does not stop at race. As a plus-sized woman, I know what it’s like being told that you are too fat, that your breasts are too big, and that your hips are too big. Apparently a woman can be curvy, but only in the approved places, according to somebody else’s blueprint.

I did not realize that my body needed a committee’s approval.

Lewis also mentioned that sometimes women can also reinforce expectations of beauty standards among themselves.

Men could contribute to this pressure, too. Brendan Patrick, a history major from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, said that some men emphasize women’s appearances too much.

“I feel like there are some men who put too much of an emphasis on beauty and not enough on personality,” Patrick said. “You can find a woman you think is beautiful, but she’s a complete dud, and what’s the point of that?”

Patrick also criticized social media’s influence on beauty standards.

“Do I think we put too much pressure on social media? Yes. Do I think social media is a good thing? Heck, no,” said Patrick.

Patrick’s perspective echoes Lewis’ concern about a culture that keeps manufacturing new insecurities. Social media can amplify those expectations while advertisements offer the next product to fix them. The cycle keeps spinning, and women are left wondering if their faces, hair or bodies are acceptable today.

I’m not saying women should stop wearing makeup, styling their hair or enjoying fashion. If lipstick makes you feel wonderful, wear it. If you love your natural face, let it all out. Let your colors fly, queen. The issue is not wanting to look beautiful; it’s being taught that you must change yourself to deserve the respect of other people.

Women are not barns that need new coats of paint. We do not owe the world a smaller waist, lighter skin, straighter hair or a face without pores.

Wear your makeup, skip your makeup, change your hair, keep your curves, take up your space.

Ladies, your body is not a group project, and society does not get the final say.