More than 40,000 Vietnamese women connect and discuss every day on NOI channels. Then, what have Vietnamese women told us over the last few months, starting with beauty?
“Summer is here, let’s show off your Beach Body”: women are continuously exposed to beauty injunction through mass media channels and social networks, leading to pressure and perpetual questioning of our appearance and feelings of inferiority. The inferiority complex is extremely real for most of the NOI community, with 65% sharing feelings about their appearance, at best neutral to extremely negative.
“In high school, because I was not “standard” per the classic beauty definition of the boys in my class, I was often commented on, ridiculed and mocked.” – Anonymous NOI community member
100% of our audience shared having been disparaged for their appearance. Friends and families appear to make them feel the most guilty about their looks. And this has consequences: 60% of participants in the survey shared that their low self-esteem has impacted their love life, and 43% feel that it is affecting their career. More than 75% felt ashamed after receiving comments on their appearance, and 10% felt suicidal.
The impact of beauty standards and comments on each other appearance is rarely talked about with others, as 41% of participants shared that they never had any conversations about their appearance and self-esteem at home or school.
And that’s why at NOI, we believe in the urgency to create a space where women can talk and challenge their perceptions of beauty so more of them can one day proudly state:
“Beauty is when you look at yourself in the mirror and fall in love with that person. When you know you’re the best version of yourself and are confident about it; the insults can’t knock you down; you are your own beautiful.” – Anonymous NOI community member
Get access to the complete data, in Vietnamese, by visiting the Let’s talk page.
