There is a constant pressure of the need to be accepted by society and the beauty standards it has set in order to match the definition of “perfect.” While highlighting the things women have to face in order to be accepted, the idea of not being good enough marks it high up in the never-ending list of social evils. Women are always told that they are too skinny, too fat, too girly, too masculine, too light, too dark, which makes it never good enough in the eyes of society. In India, girls are encouraged to use whitening creams and cosmetics at an insanely young age to make them fair and pretty to fit and get into the perfect marriage alliance. The remnants of colonialism have also majorly influenced Indian society. Black people get murdered in broad daylight in the States, but people in the same place also aspire to get tanned and darker.
People hate themselves because they feel different, and “different” is looked upon negatively. By breaking these gender norms and beauty standards, we can make people of all genders, body types, shades, and classes feel accepted.
Focusing on Indian beauty standards, being fair means being beautiful. They have indirectly prioritized the wealthy for years, as the poor had to work under the sun and thus were darker. Beauty standards have been a way to bring the minorities down and to victimize people. These insecurities cultivated by society have made people feel more so uncomfortable that they don’t feel like they are being themselves anymore. People end up adjusting and changing their personalities to become another person who is more acceptable and likable according to society.
Acceptance, positivity, and motivation are so uncommon, but body dysphoria, the obsession of fitting in, and negativity are all around. We as a new generation need to make sure that people understand that being different is completely fine and to normalize the idea of being unique so as to be different. There is no need to fit in, and they should be proud of their uniqueness. It's easier to speak about these things rather than to act upon them, but this will never become a reality unless we learn to accept everyone and educate others by speaking out for them. Bringing people down because of how they look or the money they have will just add to their insecurities, thus repeating the cycle of social evils once again.
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Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash
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