How often have we wondered about societal innuendos? Of course, no one is to blame for what is not clearly visible to the naked eye and the filtering mind. Yes, if not peek-a-boo these deceptives are playing a game of hide and seek; cropping up here and there and then doing the vanishing act. Sometimes, what seems not actually IS. All focus is on the much debated rural India, because the perception of majority is that urban India is a whole different ball game. Perhaps. But the dangers that urban India faces are quite threatening, only the causes are different.
The latest one on the Ms. World stage seems to be a certain Ms. Pooja Chopra. These “beauty queens” and their beauty contests have perennially perplexed me. We have celebrated Aishwarya Rais, Sushmita Sens, Priyanka Chopras and Lara Duttas. We have celebrated beauty and there is no denying that. But a very obvious ambiguity exists right here. The ideologies of these contests seem to be quite different. Are these the young woman idols we are trying to create and pass on a passive message that a bikini clad female with ingratiating manners and a surgical smile is a “fair promise” for the upliftment of a country? Or is it a reason to feel patriotic fervour that a lesser accomplished country is now on the world stage because of the honour blessed on this woman. The famed speeches seemed to suggest a Mother Teresa attitude. One wouldn’t really want to draw a mental picture of comparison between a social worker of brass tacks and these girls. Basically, this conceptualisation suggests that for a woman, beauty forms the basis of initiative and achievement. As blasphemous as it sounds, this is indeed the passivity that leads to the dominance of flawed perceptions. And here, the afflicted are not the downtrodden, deprived section of the economy but the very affluent middle and upper middle class.
Equating body size to beauty has been an old enough idea now. Size zero is perfection; whatever happened to the curve loving, robust young women of the seventies India. The rather unsettling stories of models starving themselves to perfection during the world’s best fashion weeks don’t seem a part of “world news” any more. It is happening everywhere; schools, colleges, work places. These standards are the worst kind of violence inflicted on the future generative citizens of society.
Statistics claim that 1 to 5% of adolescent girls are victims of anorexia and almost 40-60% of girls in high school diet, making them potential victims of the disorder. Medical complications with respect to heart, liver and kidney are the most common successions. Thin girls are beautiful, desirable and most importantly accepted, but being on the heavier side makes you a social outcaste. The indirect message- you should go graze with the cows and buffaloes since you resemble them. It is not funny the number of girls who develop severe complexes and sometimes even base potential on social acceptability.
Being physiological disorders, a combination of physical and psychological it is the mass media conditioning that plays its powerful part. Subtle violence, implied violence is in a sense more afflicting than explicit visuals of physical violence because Gory violence and rape are only visually disturbing. What about the subtle violence implied with words, images and portrayal? Yes, equating Kareena Kapoor’s body to a Sony Vaio is quite attractive an advertisement, but it loses its sheen with respect to the preached ideals. The idea of a woman goes much beyond how she looks, what she wears and how perfect her body is. The media needs education beyond journalism and mass communication. It needs ethics, morals, values and higher standards of “product marketing”. Brand value cannot be established by manipulating susceptible minds; fairness creams ads should be banned on T.V. How can you equate success to skin colour? Why do we have slimming pills that do not specify disastrous side effects? And more importantly why do we have advertisements marketing these? How effective is the censor board? We have some masala and drama thrown in by conservative, prejudiced groups for ratings, bans, hurting religious and communal sentiments. Most often, when evaluating how a lot of notions are soiled into society, the culprit is the reckless, thronging media. It is not simply sensitisation, but intelligent sensitisation that we need.
Recently, the Barbie doll celebrated its fiftieth anniversary! This starved doll with proportions of 36-24-36 has been the epitome of perfection for half a century! When parents buy the 1st Barbie doll for their three year old with gleaming pride, there starts the child’s conditioning of a beauty yardstick. By the time she is fifteen, the Barbie goes beyond being just a doll. It is an element to imitate, a measurement an image to aspire to. A few years later she will most ideally resemble one- a doll.
Whoever said that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder would kill himself if he saw the scenario.
May his soul rest in peace.
The Author Love me, hate me but you can't ignore me. Thats precisely what life has taught me in the last 20 years. And eventually I realised that screaming and ranting was not satisfying enough. It would be fair to say that I have found a certain curiosity in writing that far surpasses any temporary phase of illusion! Philosophy apart, I am still in that raw girl-woman stage and find myself contemplating on the strangest of thoughts, mostly on the brightest of days. Therefore, you have to excuse my randomness. After finding solid ground in literature, there is nothing I enjoy more than reading and criticism. It has been a pleasant one and half years at Stella Maris and that has led to more than polishing of my humour and speaking skills! I prefer to stay away from hardcore politics of the world, for I don't find any reasoning or sensibility there. By having said that have I put forth the politics of indifference?! Frankly, there are other issues, without political backgrounds that sustain my attention. So, in short you could call me your fairy tale loving, philosophy consumed, sun sign crazy, spaced out woman. Yeah, woman, since I am heading there!
All those advertisements featuring fat people , making subtle references to the body weight, also should be banned totally. It hurts to see those ads, if one has a fat body!
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