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Amy Niu is researching the behavior of self-publishing at the University of Wisconsin in Madison as a doctor of psychology. In 2019, she conducted a study to determine the impact of beauty filters on women’s and Chinese women’s self-image. He took pictures of 325 women in college and, unspoken, applied a filter to some of the photos. He then surveyed women to measure their emotions and self-esteem when they saw edited or unedited photos. Unpublished results have shown that Chinese women who view edited photos feel better about themselves, and American women (87% of whom are white) feel that their photos have been edited or not.
Niu believes that the results show that there are big differences between cultures “in terms of how sensitive people are to standard beauty and how sensitive these beauty filters are.” He added: “Technology companies are realizing that, and they are doing different versions [of their filters] to adapt to the needs of different groups of people “.
This has very obvious manifestations. Niu, a Chinese woman living in America, uses TikTok and Douyin, a Chinese version (both made by the same company and sharing many similar features, even if they don’t have the same content.) Both apps “beautify” both. ways, but they are different: they give extreme users a smoothing effect and lighten complexion for Chinese users.
According to her, the differences do not reflect the standards of cultural beauty, but rather perpetuate them. White Americans prefer to tan their skin, while they prefer filters that stretch their teeth whiter and more eyelashes, while Chinese women prefer filters that make their skin lighter.
Niu is concerned that the proliferation of filter filters has made beauty standards more uniform over time, especially for Chinese women. “In China, the standard beauty is more homogeneous,” she says, adding that filters “eliminate a lot of differences on our faces” and enhance a certain look.
“It’s very bad”
Amira Adawe has seen the same dynamic in the way young girls of color use filters on social media. Adawe is the founder and CEO of Beautywell, a nonprofit in Minnesota that aims to fight practices to lighten colorism and skin. The organization runs programs to educate young girls about online safety, healthy digital behaviors, and the risk of skin lightening.
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