The economic and social impact of appearance ideals in Australia

Appearance ideals, body dissatisfaction and appearance-based discrimination can potentially have a negative impact on the way people are treated and how people think and feel about themselves. Body dissatisfaction is defined as having a severe and persistent negative attitude towards one's own physical appearance, influenced by harmful beauty ideals prevalent in Australian society. It stems from a perceived discrepancy between an individual's ideal state of appearance (i.e., the beauty ideal) and their actual physical appearance. Additionally, appearance-based discrimination is defined as the unjust, prejudicial treatment of somebody purely on the basis of their appearance. This can be based on any physical feature of a person and can occur in various settings including education, employment, and provision of government or other services, such as healthcare. In the Australian context, this includes discrimination based on weight, skin colour, natural hair, cultural dress or appearance, and visible tattoos or piercings.