Growing up, each time I would go up to my mother asking for extra money to go try out the latest facial treatment at the corner beauty parlour, she would tell me, ‘Beauty is just skin deep.’ Yeah, we’ve all heard it and quoted it to others too at times. But do we really believe in this concept? One glance at our matrimonial pages and the truth is quite different. Everyone wants a fair bride and a tall, slim one would be a plus. We list education after we write out the beauty and body dimensions. Look around at the various magazine stands and what you get are bundles of pages selling a dream that we can’t stop aspiring for – a bikini-perfect figure, fair skin and gorgeous hair.
Thankfully, there are still some who refuse to comform to this limited idea of beauty.
Like this lingerie ad campaign by Curvy Kate Lingerie that celebrates all body shapes and sizes, representing body diversity. The campaign aims to counter the very controversial Victoria’s Secret ad, ‘The Perfect Body’ that claimed to celebrate all women by featuring only ‘thin’ ones in their campaign.
The winner of the campaign, Sophia Adams, a 21-year-old police trainee has just the right idea meant to change the perspective of beauty. On the contest page she wrote, “I used to have so many body hang ups, hated my size and wanted to change myself. But as I get older I’m realising it’s all about self love and treating your body like the temple it is!”
Way to go, Sophia!
This is just one of the many campaigns that aim to shift the cultural attitude of body image issues. Fat is fast-losing its significance as a bad word; rather people are accepting it and living with it. We have also seen plus-size models on the ramp, letting the world know that beauty really is skin deep.
However, we still have a long way to go.
Growing up in a society that places utmost importance on the way you look, it will take us a lot more to break out of the cultural stereotypes and let go of this toxic idea of body image. We watch a Shah Rukh Khan endorsing a fairness product and a Deepika Padukone asking you to lose weight and look perfect, almost every day. What do you expect?
Nevertheless, campaigns like these get our hopes up.
So the next time you feel the urge to ask someone why have they put on so much weight, just take a moment and think whether that really matters? And more importantly, if someone asks you why you have put on so much weight or are not looking perfect, give them a broad smile and an #ILookLikeThisOnly remark.
Image courtesy: Star in a Bar
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