Botox, retinol products, Pilates studios– these “reverse aging” and high intensity exercise trends need to stop targeting everyone, especially femme people.
These products and programs do not pursue beauty in the aesthetically appealing vampire or otherworldly creature sort of way. Instead, these dominant beauty standards pursue youthfulness in a capitalistic, pedophilic way, one that makes you question how people are so easily buying into the idea of limitless youth.
Yes, youth can be appealing. It’s highlighted in American culture through high school films, tabloid magazines and commercials advertising “smooth, wrinkle-free” skin. We’ve known this from the time we all could walk. This desire for youth appears differently through other generations – but the idea has always been around.
What accessories, clothes and makeup products can you afford to wear often, if not everyday? Without these large expenses, how else are you meant to look like every pretty person on the inside of a magazine?
With the rise of social media, and now the looming death of Tik Tok, the number of advertisements endorsing “wellness beauty products” has grown exponentially.
These products, including retinol serums and red light therapy masks, are advertised as a way to reverse the effects of aging in your skin or hair. I actually do believe in the power of red light therapy masks from a holistic health standpoint, but this increase in advertisements in a mere amount of weeks is alarming and concerning.
In most cases, women or femme self-identifying people are showcased wearing these products, with the message being that these rapid-effect products will make them look ageless. Younger forever.
I want to say this once now: it should not be normalized to want to look effortlessly youthful as we all age. I’m not saying ditch the sun screen – but you shouldn’t necessarily buy into anti-aging marketing schemes.
As humans we have a natural fear of aging and dying built within us, but unlearning that fear can be beautiful. Gray hair, wrinkled skin and scars are all a marker of how much life we have lived so far. You don’t have to look young to live your life to the fullest extent possible. You can embrace the features that make you appear older. Who benefits from you being smooth, soft and thin?
The monetization of Pilates is a trend which frankly could drive me up a wall. Pilates was founded during World War I by Joseph Pilates, while he was captured as an enemy and was placed in charge of the physical fitness programming for soldiers.
In the 1910s and 1920s, our ancestors did not have over-priced Pilates and full-body workout studios to become physically fit. Pilates can be done from your couch, in your living room or in a regular gym or fitness studio.
We do not need to invest in every beauty or fitness trend just because it appears to be what is best for us. “Anti-aging” trends bow to vanity, though they are not always a bad idea. However, it is terrible when unrealistic, youthful appearances become so standardized and utilized in pop culture dialogues that we lose sight of simply existing with our bodies.
In 2025, we do not need the latest beauty product or trend. We need a fundamental change in how we see aesthetics, beauty and popularity in mainstream culture.