By Cameron Drue, TIWP Student

I wish I could say I wasn’t a follower of the beauty standards created by men, or that I never let the patriarchy influence me, but I do. To fit a man’s view of beauty, I put pounds of bleach in my hair every two months, straighten my wavy hair every morning and night, fake tan my whole body head to toe, spend hundreds of dollars on makeup and skincare, and shop for clothes that I think would be appealing. The list goes on and on. I even try to trick myself into thinking I do all this for myself, and to a certain extent I do. I feel better about myself when I spend an hour getting ready and look “cute,” but that’s because it’s what has been drilled into my brain. My perfect world? I don’t even know where to begin because I don’t know. I don’t know because all I have ever been told is how to live and be happy in our current society. I would like to believe I am a pretty self-sufficient and self-aware person that doesn’t rely on others for my happiness and worth. But the back of my brain will always be in competition, second-guessing my intuitive feelings because of societal norms.