Raihanda Dipa

Social media, advertisements on tv, and family had impacted my perspective on beauty standards since i was a kid. I grew up with my insecurities for not being enough. Not tall enough, not masculine enough. But as my life journey goes on, I realized that an imperfection makes me human. I accept myself for being who I am.

"Being proud of this 5’2 tall body that can run really fast, is one of my biggest accomplishments."

I think this kind of diversity also needs to be included in the beauty and fashion industry. The fact that beauty standards in the pageant and fashion industry really badly affected people is just very unfortunate. People are indoctrinated to fulfill the standard so they can feel beautiful. At least that's how I feel :)

Yet, the very extreme judgemental society I have back home really limits my creativity and my self expression. The very big expectation on me given by the society I'm living in was really impactful in my self development. From the hairstyle, clothes, even the way we sit. Everything has the standard.

To be masculine for example, means you can not do skin care, no jewellery, even no lip balm. Then I started thinking in a logical way.

"Who benefits from this? Nobody. Who suffers? Me, maybe many people(?)."

Since then, I have my own definition for being masculine and I don't need someone else's validation. This self acceptance is a very long process to achieve. If what I do brings more advantages for me especially mentally (or financially ahaha), I will keep that.