WOMAN, 27, ATTENDS WORK EVENT—HAS SHOCK REALIZATION ABOUT BEAUTY STANDARDS

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Skylar Sorkin's admission ignited a heated debate about social media, Botox and fillers.

Skylar Sorkin, a 27-year-old content creator and podcast host, recently sparked a viral conversation about beauty standards amid the growing prevalence of cosmetic enhancements among young women.

In a widely shared Instagram post, Sorkin revealed her discomfort at being the only woman "without plastic surgery or lip fillers" at a recent industry event in Los Angeles, where she is based.

"This was me last night at an industry party," read an overlaid text on the short clip, which showed her looking into a mirror. "I was the only woman there without plastic surgery or lip filler. Tbh [To be honest], it made me feel a lil [little] insecure [because] I didn't look like the others or get the same attention.

"But I reminded myself: If I'm remembered for anything let it be that I was brave enough to stay true to myself regardless."

Her message, captioned with a rallying call for self-acceptance—"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"—quickly resonated with viewers online. The post, which was shared on December 2, has since garnered over 37,000 likes, igniting a heated discussion about the societal pressure for young women to conform to a particular beauty ideal.

Sorkin's experience speaks to a broader trend: the normalization of cosmetic procedures among women under 30 and the increasing popularity of them as a whole.

"Recently, I shared something incredibly vulnerable," Sorkin, who hosts the Regardless podcast, told Newsweek: "A piece of content that was real and raw, exposing a challenge I have been grappling with: the comparison trap.

"It is something that every woman has faced—whether it is comparing ourselves to others on social media, society's standards, or even our own inner critic."

At the heart of her message was the idea that self-worth should not be dictated by appearance or external validation.

"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," Sorkin, who hosts Regardless events with her therapist mother, added. "Your value comes from within. You are enough, regardless."

Once seen as only of interest to older individuals looking to reverse signs of aging, treatments like Botox, lip fillers, and surgical enhancements are now increasingly common among young adults.

Social media, influencer culture, and a rapidly shifting beauty standards have all contributed to this rise. The dominance of these enhancements has left having a face untouched by cosmetic procedures as something of a rarity in some parts of the world. One viewer of

Sorkin's post speculated that a natural face has become something of a postmodernist status symbol.

"Not having cosmetic procedures is the new flex, mark my words," they said.

Another added: "Being real and natural is the real flex!"

"As someone who has Botox, fillers, and plastic surgery, honestly, good for you," a third viewer said. "Sometimes I miss my old nose, it reminds me of my dad because I had his exact nose. You are beautiful and staying true to yourself will always be a flex."

Another added: "One thing this world lacks now is uniqueness."

"It is beautiful to choose to stay true to and love yourself, it is becoming rare," another said.

Skylar Sorkin is seen at a promotional event for her podcast. Credit: @SKYLARSORKIN

Sorkin's post sparked a divided response. While many praised her for standing firm in her beliefs and sticking to her natural looks, others questioned the assumption that every woman at the party had undergone cosmetic enhancements.

Some critics argued that choosing plastic surgery does not inherently indicate insecurity or a lack of self-worth, while others voiced that her message was "mean spirited." A few added that they think individuals who have opted for cosmetic enhancements in their youth will end up "botched."

"You could use a bit of filler," one viewer said.

Another added: "How do you even know that you were the 'only one' without lip fillers and surgery? Did you personally ask all of them?

This sounds condescending either way. Not very girls girl of you."

"Well that is a pick me video if I ever seen one," a different viewer said.

Another added: "Botox wouldn't fix how mean spirited this is."

"Those women will end up on Botched. Confidence is attractive not filler," someone else said.

Still, supporters emphasized the pressure young women face in certain industries, particularly in entertainment, fashion, and social media spaces, where aesthetic enhancement is often an unspoken expectation. Some Instagram users commented that Sorkin's vulnerability was refreshing in a space where curated perfection dominates.

"I know people say we should not plastic surgery shame but I really hate how the prevalence and accessibility of these procedures makes normal beautiful natural women feel ashamed of themselves," one viewer of Sorkin's video said.

Another added: "I entirely understood what you meant. These people hating or saying you are a pick me either have not attended those kinds of parties before or they have had cosmetic enhancements themselves."

"This is not a pick me video, it is reality and it sucks," another person commented.

Prominent content creator, @thesilverlining_1970, added: "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 is sad that body modification is so normalized that [it] is becoming 'expected', which doesn't leave room for individual choice."

"I cannot express how seen I felt," a different Instagram user said. "I have been going to women conferences and almost everyone has fillers, Botox, their bodies done and I am just sitting there like."

"I feel like this often as a woman of over 30 without Botox," another said.

"So many people saying pick me like the patriarchy did not influence them to get fillers," someone else added.

"All of the women with plastic surgery taking this as a personal attack in the comments is hilarious," a different viewer said.

Another added: "I was literally talking to my partner about this today. The pressure is so real, but I am terrified of needles in my face. No shade to people who do or people who do not, but you all are brave on both sides of it."

The rapid increase in cosmetic procedures among young women has been well documented.

Lip fillers have become a routine beauty maintenance step for many and a significant rise in patients under the age of 30 seeking cosmetic surgeries and injectable treatments has been noted.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons found that the number of Botox procedures among patients aged 20 to 29 have risen sharply over the past decade.

A 2024 study by vitamin and supplement company Thorne found that some U.S. teenagers are already planning to go under the knife, despite their youth. Thorne found that one in four of the surveyed group of 13- to 17-year-olds plan to get cosmetic surgery to combat signs of aging, with "Baby Botox" frequently trending on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

For Sorkin, whose podcast was signed by The Los Angeles Tribune in 2024, the industry event was a moment of self-reflection. The podcast host said that her post was not intended to shame those who have opted for Botox and fillers, but to provide a safe space for those who have not.

"In that moment of vulnerability, I had a conversation with myself—the kind that women know all too well," Sorkin, who goes by @skylarsorkin on Instagram, said. "You know, that voice that tells you you're not good enough, pretty enough, or accomplished enough.

"I faced my younger self, the girl who felt out of place. And then, I met my future self: the woman who stands tall, who says, 'Sky, why are you comparing yourself to anyone else? You know your worth. Your worth is something only you can define'."

Despite criticism, Sorkin remains steadfast in her message.

"It's about conversation, storytelling, connection, and community," she said. "These are the core values that my podcast was built on, and they're what I strive to embody through my content every single day."

Jordan Conrad, psychotherapist and the founder and director of Madison Park Therapy, weighed in on the online debate.

"There is a lot of judgment around cosmetic surgery, but it helps a lot of people," Conrad told Newsweek. "The trouble is that because it does help some people it gets justified for all people.

"Some people are truly addicted to plastic surgery, and some people use it to chase an unattainable beauty standard or to assiduously combat the inevitable process of aging and that can be life deranging."

"The reality is that, in the same way that Gen Z and Gen Alpha use TikTok the way other generations use Google, so too do many young women use Instagram to measure current trends, including fashion and fitness trends," Conrad said. "The issue is a bit worse than that because Instagram has become so ubiquitous, it now functions as a bit like a 'baseline reality' against which everything else can be measured.

"As social scientists have been saying for years, it isn't real and what people see on Instagram doesn't reflect reality at-large."

Despite the divide in her comments section, Sorkin remains committed to using her platform to try and uplift and inspire other young women.

"Social media is how I relate to and connect with others—especially those in their twenties—and if my content can make even one person feel seen, heard, or empowered, that's everything," she said.

At the core of it all, her message is simple: "We have got this."

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