Woman feels 'insecure' after attending LA event without plastic surgery — but has a profound realization

Some people go to extreme lengths to attain what society considers the ideal beauty standard. They take these extreme measures because of their deep insecurity. A 27-year-old woman, Skylar Sorkin—who goes by @skylarsorkin on Instagram—experienced a blatant shock when she visited an industry party in Los Angeles. Sorkin felt like an outsider simply because, like most women there, she didn’t have cosmetic body modifications done to match their ideal beauty standards.

"This was me last night at an industry party. I was the only woman there without plastic surgery or lip filler. [To be honest], it made me feel a [little] insecure [because] I didn't look like the others or get the same attention,” Sorkin wrote in the overlay text. In the video, she could be seen in a gorgeous black party dress, taking a selfie in front of a mirror. Sorkin, who is also the host of the “Regardless” podcast and a life coach for 20-something women, said, "But I reminded myself: If I'm remembered for anything, let it be that I was brave enough to stay true to myself regardless."

In the post caption, she described her thoughts by saying, "One of the hardest things about being a girl; repeat after me: regardless of what anyone else is doing, I don't need to change the way I look to feel accepted." Her post stirred an uproar among young women who have also felt the pressure of obliging to society’s beauty standards at some time or another. “Botox wouldn’t fix how mean-spirited this is,” said @cartney.elizabeth. @ricosweets shared, “I cannot express how seen I felt. I’ve been going to women's conferences, and almost everyone has fillers, Botox, their bodies done, and I’m just sitting there.”

An insight worthy of contemplation came from another famed content creator, @thesilverliving_1970, who wrote, “The pressure is real, and we should be having conversations around aesthetic inflation, collective care, and what we are teaching the next generation about self-acceptance. We live in a culture that manufactures insecurity for profit. It’s sad that body modification is so normalized that it is becoming ‘expected,’ which doesn’t leave room for individual choice. It’s a coerced choice to avoid being treated differently, left out, or discriminated against.”

After her video became popular on social media, Sorkin spoke to Newsweek and shared that she exposed the most vulnerable and raw part of herself. She had been grappling with this “comparison trap” for a long time, and her video spoke to a broader audience of women who experience the same thing. "It is something that every woman has faced—whether it is comparing ourselves to others on social media, society's standards, or even our inner critic," she told the outlet. "I shared this post because I wanted other women and younger girls to know that their worth does not fluctuate based on societal standards or what anyone else is doing. Your value comes from within. You are enough, regardless," said Sorkin. She said that this industry event turned into a prompt for self-reflection. She shared the video not to shame those who undergo these cosmetic procedures but to support those who don’t.

You can follow Skylar Sorkin (@skylarsorkin) on Instagram to stay tuned for her inspirational content.