This Photo Series Shows How Women Are Harming Themselves, All In The Name Of Beauty

Are you ready for some gruesome images? Very little (maybe the "Saw" movies?) has probably prepared you to view these photos, but the series, entitled "The Fanciful, Monstrous Feminine" by artist Jessica Ledwich, will make you both squirm in your seat and think about all the negative psychological impacts society's beauty standards have on women.

These photos are seriously brutal (if not slightly exaggerated) depictions of how women are conditioned to mistreat their bodies in order to achieve that feminine ideal.

"While the series employs an element of the absurd, the reality of what women put themselves through is not so far from the truth. Some procedures might just be uncomfortable, but others are downright dangerous — all so we can aspire to look like a model that is digitally manipulated in the first place."

Through photos of a woman waxing her legs with a car buffer, or sucking out leg fat with a vacuum cleaner (among other pretty disturbing images), the viewer can see the dangerous toll that these unattainable beauty standards have on women.

Juxtaposed with images of mundane household chores (like making eggs) and other societal expectations (like having babies), this series on women's bodies will definitely make you think twice before squeezing into those pair of skinny jeans or visiting the tanning salon.

via Fast Company, Photos Courtesy: Jessica Ledwich