Beauty and the perceptions of self-identity and esteem

Abstract

Beauty standards have a significant effect on our society these days. By their definition, many advertisements promote the image that a beautiful body is a perfect body. Consequently, people are at a higher risk of suffering from the most common low self-esteem to complex mental health problems. Not only low self-esteem but also poor self-image was the effect of beauty standards. Thus, the body shapes were specifically focused on in this study as it has affected many people and caused severe mental disorder such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder; to protect against these effects, healthy self-esteem with a healthy self-image was so important. In many of research showed that childhood is the age that can significantly influence and raised self-esteem. The age children could understand how different they are from others as an elementary schooler (7-11 years old). Playing with toys was a dominant activity during childhood and appears essential to child development. However, toys can be more effective when parents or caregivers play with children and talk to them about what they are doing and learning. So, we designed an educational toy like a puzzle of many different body parts. There are 3 parts of body, the upper, the middle, and the base. The materials are wood without toxic and used the magnets to joint for safety. And the children can decorate their toy as they want. This educational toy can help parents and caregivers understand beauty standards and approach children to help them understand the diversity of different body shapes without judgment.