A
recent study shows that 50%+ women prefer to be run over by a truck than to
look fat and ugly. To women, looking fat and ugly is not only hurtful but also
traumatic. If you happen to say someone “hey you have gained weight or you got
a pimple,” it is like spilling acid on that person. Female body image is constantly constructed
and manoeuvred by the society. Body shame is crucially picked, distorted and
twisted by social commentary.
The word self-image has lost its essence.
Most of us are unaware how our self image is twisted and turned by the society.
Conscious societal pressure forces us to think that we are ugly and not in-
accordance to the living standard of beauty. We are manoeuvred to look pretty
and beautify ourselves. Almond eyes, flashy eye
lashes, sharp nose, bow like lips and fair and glowing skin is the set standard
that we all are tricked to adhere to. Any sort of skin imperfection is
stigmatized by our society. A woman is made to believe that she is ugly and
ugliness is intolerable by societal standards.
Beauty is socially constructed and
marketed. If you are fat then you are supposed to be on endless, cruel diet
regime. You are supposed to exit on salads, fat and sugar free foods. You will
hear “fat talks”, things like how beautiful you would have looked had you lost
some weight. And, finally comes in the magic of capitalism, called
prodicti-fication. Market strategists make full use of socially tagged
ugliness. There are endless list of products that you can use to reduce your
weight and enhance your beauty. Not only weight reducing belts or machines, you
can read fitness magazines, opt for fitness related DVD’s and moreover hire
some personal trainer. Theses stream of things might help your reduce your
weight but at the same time you will be highly dependent on these products. Your
self-image is nothing but a market strategy from which the society gains some
sort of pleasure and capitalists get their profits.
Women are nothing but a medium via which
sexual appetizing bar is kept high. Beauty is associated with fairness. If you
are not fair then you need to thank the advertisement that pops up every two
minutes. You are supposed to use the fairness crème which will definitely make
you look fair. The acid test does not stop right there. If you don’t have
almond shaped eyes then you can make it look like almonds. Kajal, eye liners
are flooded in the market and you have to pick one, rather the right one that
suits your eye-type. Trust me it is as complicated as it sounds here. You can
correct the fines of your nose and lips only by expensive cosmetic surgeries. The
more ugly you are made to look the more is the stake of profits.
From hair to you toe tip a women needs to
maintain and beautify her so that she is not stigmatized among her peers. From
birth starts the beautification process. Girls are made to wear floral pink
dresses, fancy accessories, sparkly shoes etc. With adolescence she is suppose
to use all those products that will enhance her beauty and after 25 you are
forced to look like 15. If I chose not to go for a diet and happily eat cheese
and mayonnaise, I would question “who” society is to decide on my looks and
what beauty is. Beautification and producti-fication are all interlined to
societal norms and self image is no longer what we perceive of ourselves but
what society perceives us to be.
