Note to readers • This is part of a collaborative project between The Salt Lake Tribune and the Highland High School Rambler. Amplify Utah is publishing the work through its ongoing partnership with the Tribune to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through student journalism. Read more about these young Utahns’ experiences here.
Unfortunately, inner beauty is underrated. Our moms tell us that what really matters is what’s on the inside — your intelligence and how you treat people — but high school is a jungle of judgment.
I’m a 16-year-old Vietnamese-Mexican girl growing up on Salt Lake City’s east bench. I have black hair and melanated skin. I don’t blend in with my white peers, and I never will.
I’m not alone in feeling othered — most of the girls I know struggle with or have struggled with body dysmorphia and eating disorders because of the unrealistic expectations of what a Utah girl should look like.
According to researchers at Utah State University, women in Salt Lake City spend 10 times more on beauty products than similarly sized cities. USU also found that Salt Lake City has the second-highest number of plastic surgeons per capita in the United States, second only to Miami and ahead of Los Angeles. StyleSeat — a beauty blog — collected Google business listing data and found that Salt Lake City has the highest number of beauty treatment businesses per resident.
Utah cultural beauty standards are especially visible on social media, where teens obsessively search for the perfect hair, nails, makeup, fashion and fitness routines. And it’s important to note that Utah has a heterogenous population, where more than 75% of the population identifies as white and 76% identify as religious. People likely want to fit in and blend in with the majority of people.
Utahns seem to care deeply about their physical appearance, and it starts at an early age. This is especially true for teens who participate in gymnastics, cheer and dance, where looks are part of the sports. In addition to being some of the best dancers in the nation, Utahns are known for bleached blonde hair, year-round dark tanned skin, hair and lash extensions, perfectly polished nails and trending fashion wardrobes. This is a costly image to maintain — but the cost of beauty is not only financial, it’s physical and emotional as well.
I know this cost well. I’m a trained classical dancer, cultural dancer and varsity cheerleader. I dance at a studio, on my high school team, with my family doing traditional Mexican folklorico and I cheer for my school. I’ve been doing competitive dance for nine years, training in multiple styles. I look around and see girls with “double dark” spray tans, long false eyelashes and blonde extensions. I can’t help but compare myself to them.
We should all feel good about how we look — but we know that we’re judged on our appearances and that how we look is never good enough. Women feel this pressure the most. That’s why 92% of cosmetic procedures in Utah are undergone by women, according to USU researchers.
Comparison is harmful, and it’s hard to ignore the beauty standards presented on social media, which is where teens find the most damaging comparisons. Society needs to see the beauty in everyone. It’s important to be kind to one another, because high school is already so stressful.
We all can play a part in the solution to this problem.
We can help build each other’s confidence with kindness. We can embrace diversity and stop judging people on their physical appearance. We can remember that a compliment goes a long way, especially to people outside your social circle. We can hang out with and go on dates with someone who doesn’t share our same identities or background. We can stop judging people based on the privilege and resources they have. We can work on our inner beauty with as much effort as we do our outer beauty.
If we as a society can adopt this mindset, girls like me — who don’t fit the Utah girl image — may finally feel accepted.
