The last decades have seen great changes in the image of the self representation, one of the reasons is the advent of new technologies and their use in our everyday lives. Nowadays a majority of people use social media to communicate with others all over the world and the perception of their self-image has become of paramount importance ; almost everyone does selfies or post photos on their personal pages so that their followers can see them. It is part of their daily routine to share their personal images with total strangers. So we may wonder how our perception of beauty has been impacted.
Indeed appearances have been challenged; on the one hand globalisation has allowed people all over the world to share a concept of standardized beauty with dress codes which generate an acceptance to a social group. However when you don’t follow these rules you tend to appear as an outcast, you may be excluded from the group and this a real challenge for teenagers nowadays. We have all heard about the dramatic consequences a distorted self-image may have. Tensions soon appear when teenagers feel like being different from their mates or for lack of money can’t afford to buy standardized clothes in order to integrate the group, they are stigmatised.
Doris Lessing deals with the theme of exclusion from a group and its dramatic consequences in her contemporary gothic horror story: "The Fifth Child". The protagonist was born in a perfectly stereotyped family and he soon appears as a monster, a semi-human boy who is the odd one out. Yet the readers should ask themselves who the real monster is.
On the other hand standards of beauty have been questioned recently and it seems to be easier to adopt a different look from what is commonly accepted at least for adults. Moreover conformity is being given up for a more open style that allows to show one’s taste and convictions. On TV for example we can watch more open-minded adverts which represents more natural people so that consumers have less complex and feel more at ease. On top of that more minorities (LGBTQ for example) are represented in the media so that the evolution of self-images make it simpler to feel good and comfortable.
