Being an ugly duckling, which takes its name from Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, refers to glowing up and developing into an attractive and successful person as opposed to what one has been before in their early days.

But even though it indeed shows how empowering blossoming can be, the message of being “an ugly duckling” also has some inherent flaws. Because it’s based on the idea that beauty is “malleable,” it focuses on the improvement of looks that can further escalate your self-worth and self-image. The idea of transforming one’s beauty has infiltrated our society with glossy magazine covers, advertising, and social media.

Melissa Burkley, a psychology professor and book author, writes on Psychology Today: “This message that less attractive girls can become beautiful is also commonly seen in movies (She’s All That and Never Been Kissed) and celebrity magazine interviews with the likes of Eva Longoria (Allure, 2006), Beyoncé (Glamour, 2009), and Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Harper’s Bazaar UK, 2011).”

According to Melissa, “The problem here is that in modern society, beauty is an overly idealized and largely unattainable goal for most women. With enough effort and persistence, nearly anyone can earn good grades in school. But no amount of effort or persistence can turn the typical woman into the photoshopped, unrealistically perfect beauty images they see every day in advertisements, movies, and magazines.”

Melissa and her colleagues conducted several studies to see how the idea that beauty is malleable affects people’s physical and mental well-being: “in one study, we had people read a story that either highlighted (1) how beauty is malleable and changes significantly over the lifespan, (2) how beauty is fixed and doesn’t change much over the lifespan, or (3) a neutral story that had nothing to do with beauty.”

“We found that women who read the 'beauty is malleable' story later reported more anxiety about their appearance, were more likely to base their sense of self-worth on their appearance, and were more interested in getting plastic surgery than women who read the other two stories.” It turned out that the more people thought they can change the way they look, the more obsessed they became over their appearance up to a point that’s generally considered unhealthy.