By Katelyn needham/ editor-in-chief

Beauty doesn’t have a size or a waist measurement. 

It is a universal and ever-changing concept that varies depending on the eye of the beholder.

More recently, jumps have been made toward normalizing the idea that people don’t need to have a certain body type, hair color or even gender to be considered beautiful.

Covergirl was the first to make a male beauty guru a spokesperson. It crushed the gender barrier in the makeup industry.

Arie has started a campaign to end model retouching in Photoshop. None of its models’ photos have been edited in any way to try to teach young girls and people everywhere that “the real you is sexy.” It is helping make steps to end the fake beauty ideals that models themselves can’t obtain.

Singer/actress Zendaya called out Modeliste magazine for retouching her photos.

She posted the real, unedited, photo of herself next to the one the magazine changed with a caption about the unrealistic standards the magazine was helping set. She is changing the way celebrities and young girls approach the idea of body image.

Plus-sized models are becoming more and more commonplace and celebrated in the fashion world.

We are living in a time where being unique and true to your complete self, jean size and all, is encouraged and supported by the media that has such a large influence over the world.

These trends need to continue to climb until all people can feel beautiful in their own skin. According to studies done by the International OCD Foundation, body dysmorphic disorder affects from 5 million to 7.5 million Americans and is about as common as obsessive-compulsive disorder.

If we continue to work on normalizing body positivity and the overall acceptance for the different things that make people beautiful then those numbers will fall, and we may even get rid of the disease all together.

People shouldn’t feel trapped or bad about themselves in their own skin.