St.

John the Baptist Catholic School

Senior High School Department

THE BEAUTY STANDARDS

SET BY THE SOCIETY TO MEN AND WOMEN: ARE
YOU REQUIRED TO REACH
THOSE STANDARDS

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CATHOLIC SCHOOL

NOVEMBER 2021

This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s thesis advisor, Professor

John Mikko Flores, and has been approved by the members of his supervisory committee.

Members:

Laureana Rafa T. Nabong

Kate Irish G. Carlos

Marivic Royo

Liesa Mae Manalili

Angelica David

Jayvee O. Manansala

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ii

Chapter One ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.1 experiences about depression or anxiety due to reaching a standard of beauty and;
1.2 the reason they are being depressed or anxious because of it

2.

1.1 money spent on beauty products and;

1.2 what pressure them to spent money for beauty products

3.

1.1 perception and knowledge about this matter

4.

1.1 specified reasons for feeling obligated

5.

1.1 specified reason for doing it or not

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Future Researchers. This study will able to help researchers that will come up with the same topic to
support their studies related to their idea.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATIONS

DEFINITION OF TERMS

BEAUTY. the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives

pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit : LOVELINESS
( merriam-webster dictionary )

STANDARD. : a level of quality, achievement, etc., that is considered

acceptable or desirable ( merriam-webster dictionary ) : something that is
very good and that is used to make judgments about the quality of other
things
NORMS. an accepted standard or a way of behaving or doing things that
most people agree with: ( Cambridge dictionary )
Manipulate. to control something or someone to your advantage,
often unfairly or dishonestly: ( Cambridge dictionary )
Society. a large group of people who live together in an organized way,
making decisions about how to do things
and sharing the work that needs to be done. All the people in a country,
or in several similar countries, can be referred to as a society:
( Cambridge dictionary )
Self-love . : love of self: such as, : an appreciation of one's own worth or
virtue, : proper regard for and attention to one's own happiness or well-
being, : inflated love of or pride in oneself ( merriam-webster dictionary )
Self-esteem . : a confidence and satisfaction in oneself : SELF-RESPECT
( merriam – webster dictionary )

Validity . : the quality or state of being valid: such as, : the state of being
acceptable according to the law , : the quality of being well-grounded,
sound, or correct ( merriam-webster dictionary )

2 local literature

Filipino Women and the Idealization of White

Beauty in Films, Magazines, and Online

Kristin Renault

THE POLITICS OF PRETTY: How International Beauty Pageants Promote Western Standards of Beauty in
the Philippines

Gato, Georgina Mia B ( may, 2019 ) http://cas.upm.edu.ph/

Ganda mo perception of feminine beauty

shaped by internal and external factors
"This thesis focused on how selected Filipinos perceive feminine beauty as well as its
formation and the external and internal factors that influence it. Also, it focused on what
feminin beauty is and the distinction of the perception of feminine beauty across
gender. Review of related literature revealed that mass media and advertising equate
beauty to thinness. This ideal of female beauty has a negative impact on females
resulting to eating disorders and disturbance in their appearances. Furthermore, women
want to improve their appearances by purchasing beauty products or resort to cosmetic
 surgery. It was found out too that Western ideals of beauty propagate through local
television and magazine advertisements. Thus, media influences women's ideals of
beauty. Also, most studies focused on certain products or campaigns when exploring
about the females' perception on beauty such as skin-whitener commercials and other
TV advertisements. Moreover, most studies explored the females' point of view when it
comes to beauty, not exploring the perception across gender.This study adapted
Firmeza's study framework (1995) and user Perception Model, Filipino Value System,
Constructivism, Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, Persuasion theory, Reinforcement theory
and Agenda Setting theory. Concepts from each of the theories were borrowed in order
to come up with an integrated conceptual framework. The researcher conducted a
series of focus interviews and focus group discussion that primarily explored into how
the perception of beauty was formed and the factors that influences its formation. The
focus group discussions and focus interviews gave an in depth inquiry as to what factors
contributed to the meaning of beauty among selected Filipinos. Both methods employed
a purposeful sampling. Findings of the study revealed that in forming perceptions of
feminine beauty, a lot of factors are to be considered. External sources of information
such as family, friends, partners, social groups, society & culture, work, advertisements
and mass media were found out to be influential. Also, it was found out that individuals
have their own standard of feminin beauty based on their upbringing and maturity.
Moreover, the informants primarily associated feminine beauty with outer beauty or
physical attractiveness because they shared that it is first seen by people. However,
inner beauty was considered essential most expecially in interacting with other people
more so, in keeping relationships with others. Inner beauty was said to be longer lasting
compared to outer beauty. Furthermore, there is a need for one to be beautiful for self
fulfillment and for other's acceptance. In addition, it was found out in this study that
perceptions of feminine beauty vary across gender. This study will be of great use for
women who have distorted perceptions of beauty and low self esteem. It will also help
the audience to be more critical of what mass media present as beautiful and consider
themselves as beautiful too. In addition, this study will contribute to the learning of
different fields such as mass communication, arts, psychology and anthropology."

Roy patricia Cristiana aporongao

Flawed perfection a social media advocacy

campaign to inspire and guide teenage girls
in their journey to self-acceptance and
satisfaction
Media is influencing various aspects of our lives, and beauty is no exception. Beauty is
being portrayed differently over time and is developing with the generations that grew
up with it. My research aims to know how media has influenced Filipino women and
their standards of beauty. it involves East Asian media content to study the effect of its
exposure to Filipino women, due to its rising popularity today. It has shown that media
does play a big role in molding beauty standards, whether it is to uphold or change
 someone's beauty standard. Filipino women are no longer new to the concept of ideals
and standards. In fact, most of them grew up looking at different standards of beauty
(mainly Western and East Asian) through the media that they were exposed to. The
pressure to conform to these standards is unavoidable for most women. And they have
expressed feeling more of this pressure at a younger age. Social media has become an
accessible tool for daily information, education, communication etc. it particularly
affects how teenage girls perceive beauty and what is beautiful. With this perception
comes pressure, which results to insecurities, issues, and struggles about their
appearances. Flawed Perfection is a social media advocacy campaign that aims to be an
inspiration and guidance to teenage Filipino girls in their journey to self-acceptance and
satisfaction. Using social media as a tool for showing the authenticity of having both
perfections and imperfections, we are encouraging the expression of perfections and
imperfections among young girls. it hopefully empowers young girls to use their voices
through social media, as a way to bringing out their beauty. Through this campaign,
these voices will even be extended further to influence more and more girls.

Mendoza, Maria Carmella M. Thesis (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication)--

University of the Philippines Diliman |d May 2018.

#DoItForTheGram a critical discourse

analysis of the production, curation, and
celebrification of "feed worthy beauty" in
Instagram
Beauty is a concept that is tied to its time. Beauty is also perceived to be
cultural. Meaning, beauty does not only varies through time, it also varies
among societies. In the Philippines, beauty is discerned to be linked with
Caucasian standards due to the country's history of colonization. F...
Full description
Beauty is a concept that is tied to its time. Beauty is also perceived to be cultural.
Meaning, beauty does not only varies through time, it also varies among societies. In
the Philippines, beauty is discerned to be linked with Caucasian standards due to the
country's history of colonization. Following the argument however, that beauty changes
through time, it is a must to look into the beauty standards that the Philippines
currently has, a century after being colonized. In further intellectualizing culture's role in
the discourse of beauty and having considered that the Filipinos are one of the most
prominent social media platforms in Philippine society, the Instagram. In particular, this
study sought to look into the image and standards of beauty presented in the Instagram
accounts of 7 Filipina Instagram influencers. Employing Fairclough's (1985) Critical
Discourse Analysis, Valtysson's (2014) Conditioned Participation, and the previous
literatures' take on celebrification, the study aimed to explore the current image of
"feed-worthy beauty" being presented in Philippine society. The image of "feed-worthy
beauty" was found to be liberal and independent. Furthermore, the image of beauty
 posted by these influencers were seen to be carefully planned and curated by the
influencers. In the image of "feed-worthy beauty", motives of influencers were defined,
however the study found that there is more than one author of the image. The findings
of the study shows that there are agents who decide and weigh in on the creation,
production, and celebrification of "feed-worthy beauty". Thus, the image is not found to
be a product of the influencer, but of the industry. The industry of the influencer
industry in the Philippines, together with these agents were identified and mapped in
the findings of this research.

Navarro, Roslyne Anne D (A. B. Communication Research)--University of the Philippines

Diliman |d May 2019.
Mendoza, M. C. M., & Viriña, C.
( May 2018 ) Flawed perfection: A
social media advocacy campaign
to inspire and guide teenage girls
in their journey to self-
acceptance and satisfaction.
According to Mendoza, Maria Carmella, media has a big impact on
molding beauty standards, it says that it can uphold or change
someone’s beauty standard. She also included that most of Filipino
women were no longer new to the concept of ideals and standard of
beauty and that most of Filipino women were looking at different
standards of beauty but she says that they commonly focuses on
Western and East Asian beauties through media platform that they
are exposed. She also wrote that the pressure to conform to these
standards that was set were unavoidable to most of women
resulting a big pressure at their young age. She stated that Social
media has become an accessible tool for a lot of usage but it
particularly affects how teenagers perceive beauty and what is the
definition of beautiful. “With this perception comes pressure which
results to insecurities, issues and struggles about their
appearances.” It means that social media has a big impact on
women issues about their appearances because on what they see on
it. With this the researchers believes that through this kind of
campaigns they will able help a lot of Filipino women who is taking
their journey on self-acceptance and satisfication. By social media
they would extend their voices to inspire other girls to use their
voices through social media, in this way a lot of women would be
encourage to also speak up their voices to empower all women who
struggles on fighting with these beauty standards.

According to Mendoza, Maria Carmella, media influences different

aspects of our lives particularly beauty standards. She says that
media has become a big platform when it comes on constructing
beauty standards, she also says that it has a effect to either
validate or modify someone’s ideal beauty. She also concluded that
Filipino women are well informed to this concept of ideals and
standards in beauty, and that some of them learned it while growing
up through media’s that they are really exposed to, Fiipino women
were commonly grew up seeing a Western and East Asian beauty
that was portrayed/showed on media’s. Because of this standards,
some of women were pressure to reach this standards at their
young age when they supposed to be enjoy living. We also know
that there are so many variations of contents that we can see on
social media affecting women’s perception about this standards
resulting them having issues, insecurities and low self-esteem about
the characteristics of beauty they embody. Mendoza, Maria Carmella
stated that through this campaign she is expecting to encourage a
lot of women who currently having a hard time dealing with their
journey on loving and accepting themselves. Mendoza, Maria
Carmella stated that by using social media platforms she will able to
show the perfect and imperfections of a human being ad that by this
she will be able to encourage a lot of women to stand up and be
confident on their beauty that they embody. This relevance of this
study is to show that beauty comes in all forms and that being
flawed does not mean being ugly and being unacceptable by this
society.
VARIABLES, CONCEPTS AND THEORIES

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The figure above shows the significant relationship

between the variables in the study. Given that our study
aims to see if women and man really feel required to
acquire the following beauty standards that was set in the
society. Our study determines the quantity of people who
suffers mental breakdowns, anxiety and depression due to
the peer pressure of society’s planted beauty standard.
Our study examines the effect of this pressure to all
human beings but specifically to the youth. We also study
each of one’s perspective about this phenomenal issue,
we study how they handle these issues by themselves
because they are our main subject for this as they are
more exposed in modern field. If one of these youth is
currently struggling on how to manage these issues, our
study can be an alternative practice for them to access as
this will serve a alternative solution and guide.
Kim, S., & Lee, Y. (2018). Why do women want to be beautiful? A qualitative study proposing a new
"human beauty values" concept. PloS one, 13(8), e0201347.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201347
This study shows that there is cultural beauty perception which means a beauty standard of a person can
based on their own culture. Through their study, they want to ask the perception of their variables on how
cultural beauty and personal beauty differs for them. They stated that they traced the changes of
preferences for ideal’s women beauty in the young adult generation and traditional older generation. They
argued that a women’s perspective or reason why they wanted to be beautiful is because of their culture,
given that they are Koreans and beauty is really a big competition there, beauty is one of their main
priorities. They stated that women compete with one another about their beauty, and that beauty have
hierarchical level, there are what they call superior level. “Previous studies have found that a beautiful
appearance creates a competitive advantage that helps the individual acquire limited social resources
such as an easier job search, the selection of a spouse, and higher income levels.”

Upon scrutinizing other author’s work about beauty, I came up with an idea to think different
resolutions with our topic which is requiring to reach the beauty standards that were set in our society.
Some were really felt obligated on reaching these because of cultural sense and some were after the
competition feels. While the alarming part is that there were victims of this issue that was heavily
damage – mentally, physically and financially. To put into halt the stigma, we will study more about a
person’s environment, behavior, social competitiveness, social comparison, validity and self-development.

HYPOTHESIS

THE BEAUTY STANDARDS

SET BY THE SOCIETY TO MEN AND WOMEN: ARE
YOU REQUIRED TO REACH
THOSE STANDARDS

The beauty standards set by the society to men and women (independent
variable)

Required to reach those standards (dependent variable)

The researchers studies about the causes and reasons behind the beauty
standards that was set in our society to men and women and the its effects on
others by feeling obliged to reach these standards. We will further focus on
studying about the environmental influences – how’s the environment of the
victims (such as if his or her surrounding is focus on physical beauty) social
comparison – if the victims were always being compared to other’s embodied
characteristics. Social competition – if the victims were surrounded by women
who loves to compete about beauty, resulting them to degrade someone for
the reason that they are not coping up with them. Validity – what makes the
victims crave for validity resulting them to overworked themselves just to
reach these standards to fit in and have that validation.
We researchers think that if self-development will be more introduce to us
and will have more opportunity to be educated that validity and beauty were
something that will not damage you in any way, your mental stability should
not be out of your depth. Beauty and validation is not something we should
fiddle about, beauty and validation were not something we should boast and
prioritize. If we all do not put attention to the beauty standards that was set
in the society to men and women and respect and accept our own
characteristics then no one will be pressured on feeling obliged on reaching
these standards.

behavioral SOCIAL
COMPARISON

IGNORING BEAUTY
STANDARD SET IN
SELF VALIDITY
THE SOCIETY
DEVELOPMENT

SOCIAL Competition
Navarro, R. A. D., & Baldo-Cubelo,
J. T. ( May
2019 ) #DoItForTheGram: A
critical discourse analysis of the
production, curation, and
celebrification of "feed worthy
beauty" in Instagram.
This research conducted by Navarro, Roslyne Anne emphasizes
about” feed worthy beauty” in Instagram. She stated that beauty is
distinguish to be cultural which means that it alters among
societies not only through time. She stated that beauty is discerned
to be link with various of standards adequate the history of our
country’s being colonized. She also stated that Filipinos are one of
the most prominent on social media platforms in country’s society,
the Instagram. This feed-worthy beauty were mostly posted by
famous influencers as Filipinos really follow most of social media
influencers on their different social media platforms they are
powerful enough to feed us this perspectives and she stated that
the images of beauty that were posted by this social media
influencers were planned all along as they are paid through this.
She found out through her study that this images that were
portrayed by this influential influencers were products of the
industry. The information in this research will serve as support to
our study, this information will be a wake-up call to all of women
who desperately copy the image of these influencers they look up to
stop and be their selves instead of copying these influencers that
were paid to promote a product that they want us to believe that
the product is the answer to be like them.

LOCAL LITERATURE
Navarro, R. A. D., & Baldo-Cubelo,
J. T. (May 2019) #DoItForTheGram:
A critical discourse analysis of the
production, curation, and
celebrification of "feed worthy
beauty" in Instagram.
“Beauty is a concept that is tied to its time. Beauty is also perceived to be
cultural. Meaning, beauty does not only vary through time, it also varies among
societies. In the Philippines, beauty is discerned to be linked with Caucasian standards
due to the country's history of colonization. Following the argument however, that
beauty changes through time, it is a must to look into the beauty standards that the
Philippines currently has, a century after being colonized. In further intellectualizing
culture's role in the discourse of beauty and having considered that the Filipinos are one
of the most prominent social media platforms in Philippine society, the Instagram. In
particular, this study sought to look into the image and standards of beauty presented
in the Instagram accounts of 7 Filipina Instagram influencers. Employing Fairclough's
(1985) Critical Discourse Analysis, Valtysson's (2014) Conditioned Participation, and the
previous literatures' take on celebrification, the study aimed to explore the current
image of "feed-worthy beauty" being presented in Philippine society. The image of
"feed-worthy beauty" was found to be liberal and independent. Furthermore, the image
of beauty posted by these influencers were seen to be carefully planned and curated by
the influencers. In the image of "feed-worthy beauty", motives of influencers were
defined, however the study found that there is more than one author of the image. The
findings of the study shows that there are agents who decide and weigh in on the
creation, production, and celebrification of "feed-worthy beauty". Thus, the image is not
found to be a product of the influencer, but of the industry. The industry of the
influencer industry in the Philippines, together with these agents were identified and
mapped in the findings of this research. “
Mendoza, M. C. M., & Viriña, C.
( May 2018 ) Flawed perfection: A
social media advocacy campaign
to inspire and guide teenage girls
in their journey to self-
acceptance and satisfaction.
“ Media is influencing various aspects of our lives, and beauty is no exception. Beauty
is being portrayed differently over time and is developing with the generations that
grew up with it. My research aims to know how media has influenced Filipino women
and their standards of beauty. it involves East Asian media content to study the effect
of its exposure to Filipino women, due to its rising popularity today. It has shown that
media does play a big role in molding beauty standards, whether it is to uphold or
change someone's beauty standard. Filipino women are no longer new to the concept of
ideals and standards. In fact, most of them grew up looking at different standards of
beauty (mainly Western and East Asian) through the media that they were exposed to.
The pressure to conform to these standards is unavoidable for most women. And they
have expressed feeling more of this pressure at a younger age. Social media has
become an accessible tool for daily information, education, communication etc. it
particularly affects how teenage girls perceive beauty and what is beautiful. With this
perception comes pressure, which results to insecurities, issues, and struggles about
their appearances. Flawed Perfection is a social media advocacy campaign that aims to
be an inspiration and guidance to teenage Filipino girls in their journey to self-
acceptance and satisfaction. Using social media as a tool for showing the authenticity of
having both perfections and imperfections, we are encouraging the expression of
perfections and imperfections among young girls. it hopefully empowers young girls to
use their voices through social media, as a way to bringing out their beauty. Through
this campaign, these voices will even be extended further to influence more and more
girls. “

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6075765/
 Vcftu

Kim, S., & Lee, Y. (2018). Why do women want to be beautiful? A qualitative study proposing a new
"human beauty values" concept. PloS one, 13(8), e0201347.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201347

This study shows that there is cultural beauty perception which means a beauty standard of a person can
based on their own culture. Through their study, they want to ask the perception of their variables on how
cultural beauty and personal beauty differs for them. They stated that they traced the changes of
preferences for ideal’s women beauty in the young adult generation and traditional older generation. They
argued that a women’s perspective or reason why they wanted to be beautiful is because of their culture,
given that they are Koreans and beauty is really a big competition there, beauty is one of their main
priorities. They stated that women compete with one another about their beauty, and that beauty have
hierarchical level, there are what they call superior level. “Previous studies have found that a beautiful
appearance creates a competitive advantage that helps the individual acquire limited social resources
such as an easier job search, the selection of a spouse, and higher income levels.”

Upon scrutinizing other author’s work about beauty, I came up with an idea to think different
resolutions with our topic which is requiring to reach the beauty standards that were set in our society.
Some were really felt obligated on reaching these because of cultural sense and some were after the
competition feels. While the alarming part is that there were victims of this issue that was heavily
damage – mentally, physically and financially. To put into halt the stigma, we will study more about a
person’s environment, behavior, social competitiveness, social comparison, validity and self-development.
The researchers chose the approach to data gathering from an interview process
through google form. The study was conducted for two weeks, as the researchers
gave a great deal of time to the participants in order to gather information in
most genuine way with the intent of gathering genuine answers and perspectives
of our participants. The researchers did use close-ended questions to further
explain the participants point of view regarding of our inquiries. The researchers
will learn through this interview on how these participants were affected by the
beauty standards that was set on our society. A total of five respondents will be
included in this study.
After collecting all the data, the researchers would gather it in a way of
tabulation. The result would hopefully be the basis to lessen the alarming effect
of set beauty standards to men and women in the society. The researchers chose
this way of approach to gather data for the reason that it will be more convenient
as we are facing a huge crisis as of the moment, it will ensure the safety of the
researchers and participants moreover it will save us time.