Dr. Julie de Azevedo Featured in Allure: The Pressure Utah Women Feel to Be Perfect

Dr. Julie de Azevedo was featured in Allure Magazine in an article exploring beauty standards, perfectionism, and identity within Mormon culture and Utah life.

As a licensed therapist, author, and founder of Wasatch Family Therapy, Dr. de Azevedo was invited to offer insight into the emotional impact of cultural expectations surrounding appearance, womanhood, and worthiness. She offered insight into how cultural expectations in Utah can shape self-worth, identity, and emotional health.

Dr. de Azevedo on Perfectionism and Mormon Culture

In the interview, Dr. de Azevedo explained how religious teachings around perfection can sometimes become interpreted through an external lens:

“There's a scripture that says, ‘Be therefore perfect,’ and I think that's misinterpreted as, ‘be externally flawless.’”

She also described how perfectionism can show up in family systems and daily life:

“There's kind of this cultural belief in Utah that if you look perfect—if your kids look perfect, if your house is perfect—then somehow it's tied to your righteousness.”

These comments highlight how appearance-based expectations can affect emotional well-being, especially in environments where external presentation becomes closely connected to identity or acceptance.

Utah Beauty Culture and Women’s Mental Health

The Allure article also explored why beauty and appearance can carry emotional weight for many women in Utah and Mormon communities.

Dr. de Azevedo Hanks shared:

“Women are encouraged to be stay-at-home moms, so if you don't have other ways to find satisfaction and value, you might focus more on appearance as something you can control or something that can make you feel good about yourself.”

Her perspective adds important context to conversations about beauty culture in Utah. Rather than reducing women’s experiences to stereotypes or surface-level trends, her comments focus on the deeper emotional and cultural dynamics underneath perfectionism and comparison.

Appearance, Worthiness, and Social Expectations

Dr. de Azevedo also addressed how attractiveness and social status can become subtly connected within cultural messaging:

“It's said that the harder you work as a missionary, the hotter your wife. They joke about it, but I think there's truth in jest.”

Comments like these reflect broader conversations around self-worth, identity, and the pressure many people feel to meet unrealistic standards.

For some women, those pressures can contribute to anxiety, shame, self-criticism, or feeling disconnected from their authentic selves. Conversations about beauty standards are often also conversations about belonging, validation, and emotional health.

Support for Perfectionism, Self-Worth, and Identity Concerns

Conversations about Mormon beauty standards, perfectionism, and self-worth resonate with many women because they touch deeper emotional questions about identity, belonging, and authenticity. Dr. de Azevedo’s comments in Allure help put language to experiences that are often felt quietly and personally — especially the pressure to appear perfect, meet unrealistic expectations, or tie worth to outward success.

At Wasatch Family Therapy, we help individuals, couples, and families work through perfectionism, anxiety, identity concerns, relationship struggles, and faith transitions in a supportive and nonjudgmental environment.

Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed by expectations, disconnected from yourself, or struggling to know your worth outside of performance, therapy can help you reconnect with who you are underneath the pressure. Contact us to get matched with a therapist who fits your needs, goals, and experiences.