In a world where fashion is laced with much diversity and inclusiveness, the social media has been working on setting unrealistic standards and augmenting the feelings of self-appreciation. Thereby reducing low self-esteem to its smallest minimum. It was said that beauty is in the eyes of the behavior. However, beauty is in how you see yourself.
The story of the 23-year-old, Katie Gee started after she graduated from Nottingham University last year who decided to launch the #SettingTheStandard on a Monday, when she had released a publication which was a personal article of herself. Her post on Instagram made the hashtag trend with over 23,900 post on Instagram from other people sharing what they refer to as ‘perceived flaws.’
Katie Gee survived an acid attack in Zanzibar in 2013 which left 35 percent burns across her body. Since then she had undergone more over 60 operations just to restore her health.
“I think it’s great that so many people have joined in” she said, “but I hope it continues to spread and reach as many people as possible. It’s exciting every time I get tagged in new posts.”
The acid attack survivor hopes that the images shared under the hashtag will assuage that pressure people get from social media to look a certain way there by erasing that feeling of insecurity. “I’ve got to the point now where I’ll never be ashamed or embarrassed that I have scars from the attack, but I’m only human and sometimes will have days where I feel insecure too,” she said.
However, the hashtag was the very first bold step to eliminating insecurity. The standard for beauty shouldn’t be based totally on looks.
That and more is what her hashtag promoted and is still promoting. It takes courage and a high level of self-appreciation to set the standard for beauty.
