As someone who is unabashedly up to date with TikTok trends, I’m no stranger to all the different beauty standard categorizations. I’ve seen it all from deer pretty, bunny pretty, and siren pretty. Usually, I scroll past videos of the same aesthetics rebranded under different names, but a particular video caught my eye. As I was scrolling a girl complained about how hard it is to attend an SEC school with crazy beauty standards. It was not hard to put the pieces together as this was during the height of Bama RushTok, but I wanted to see how others felt about the newest beauty label on the scene. And so I dove deep into something that probably seems crazy to any non-SEC school.
Stereotyping is never acceptable but is unavoidable. For many who define girls as “SEC pretty” that categorization comes from being tan, having perfectly blown-out hair, and wearing the nicest clothes with the finest jewelry. One could argue that that is the beauty standard for any young adult woman, but what makes it distinguishable is the popularity of RushTok and seeing multiple rush “stars” from SEC schools, such as Kylan Darnell, dressing and doing their makeup similarly.
While I do admire their style and ability to put their look together all the time, I find it harmful to start posting videos insinuating there is a degree of superiority in achieving this look. With SEC schools, so many students represent all kinds of styles and looks, all of which I admire. After returning to campus in the fall and being surrounded by so many SEC beauties, I started feeling insecure about how I dressed and looked. Do I need to buy a sporty dress? Should my hair be blown out? There was much-needed contemplation on figuring out what feels authentic to me. It finally took realizing that I could admire other people’s styles without projecting it onto myself and wondering if I’d feel better about myself if I looked different.