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Mayuravarshini Mohana
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@mayura
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Beauty is a measure of aesthetic sensibility and it pertains more to the perceiver than the perceived. By no means is beauty a definite idea. Just as cultures change over time so do the standards that define beauty. For instance dark skin tone was cherished in medieval India while 21st century C.E. deplores it.
Our current world has misunderstood the idea of beauty, restricting it to physical appearances. It is to appreciate the unique loveliness of a person. Instead beauty has become a set of criteria, a specified image prescribed to every individual. It has become too strait-jacketed a term that has a very narrow vision of what is beautiful and what is not.

Colourism and body negativity are the most immediate and inimical consequences of such criteria. Prevalent beauty standards advocate to both men and women the idea of a perfect or ideal body, which is not surprisingly euro-centric. Our film industries seem to prefer light skinned, slim waisted, tall belles with almond eyes and long lashes, and broad shouldered muscular men with enhanced jaw lines. We are quick to internalise these images and accept them from a very young age. As a consequence, millions of boys and girls, men and women look at themselves in the mirror and see not what they are but look for what they aren’t. They develop depression, anxiety and eating disorders in a bid to become conventionally beautiful. In the process, they develop negative attitudes towards their body and subsequently their self-image.

Why then do popular media sustain these unrealistic ideas of beauty? In simple terms, the insecurity creates a dependable market for beauty products. The anxiety among people from Asian and African communities regarding their physical appeal was cultivated during colonialism which capitalism promptly received as heirloom. The colonial regime perpetuated euro-centric ideals of beauty, which was in turn invariably associated with superiority and power.

Beauty is no longer a matter of aesthetics. Beauty is politics.

Capitalism, through standardising beauty, tells us that we are not enough. While doing that, it points us towards an image of what we ought to be, and thanks to cutting edge beauty products, we can finally get there. How often have advertisements propagated the idea that success, wealth, satisfaction and even happiness will become ours only if we become a certain kind of beautiful? And how naively we’ve believed that!

Our bodies are uniquely beautiful and we must learn to embrace it. The journey is hard but is certainly worth the effort. We owe it to ourselves. Body positivity is the ultimate cure.