Every morning from classes one to five I spent fifteen minutes in front of the wall mirror and covered my face with white powder. I would not stop until my skin looked so pale and ashes that my mother was shocked to air – only spend the next five minutes to wash everything in a hurry before the school bus arrives. On the days when I left the house without a powder, I was overwhelmed by fear – prerequisite as I really was.
In the 2000s, my childhood became the Bollywood song, which was brothers and tested in the world of Indian television, exaggerated Masala films and endless ads.
For the most part, the representations of women in these media forms were growing up my ideal.
Theorists often talk about how mass media play a strong role in the construction of ideal types and role models of behavior during childhood and young people.
The contrast between what I saw on the screen and what I saw in me breed deep uncertainties. My self-esteem was bound by how exactly I could imitate this ideal skin, “tame” hair and features that did not feel.
The women I saw on TV often became my role models and shaped my earliest understanding of femininity and femininity. However, the version of the femininity they showed felt far from and unattainable-skinned, straight-hairy, thin and polished with embarrassed characteristics. When I looked in the mirror, I saw none of it. The contrast between what I saw on the screen and what I saw in me breed deep uncertainties. My self-esteem was bound by how exactly I could imitate this ideal skin, “tame” hair and features that did not feel.
My mother, which was influenced by the same beauty standards and the parts of my calm agony, was also involved in these efforts. Thousands of rupees were spent for fairness creams, powder and anti-tanning masks to pursue a beauty version that none of us could really claim than ours.
The construction of the Eurocentric beauty standards
The beauty standards are socially constructed and the ubiquitous idealization and universalization of Eurocentric ideals of beauty, as shown in Indian media, only examined me until I was exposed to different cultures from television and saw the representation of different body types.
My academic engagement with feminist theories and media studies during my studies further deepened this awareness. I understood how the representation of women through Indian media acts as a powerful tool for social control and reinforces and normalized the Eurocentric standards. These representations are not only aesthetic preferences, but the reflections of the postcolonial impression, the appearance of the appearance that marginalize indigenous characteristics and physical expressions.
The idealization of certain beauty standards and their continuation in Indian society are at the intersection of feministPresent Postcolonialist And Neo-marxist theories.
Although women have won more power, they are still defined by and in the context of patriarchal constructions of beauty. At the same time, these standards come from the preference for light skin and western characteristics that are rooted in Colonial historyWhere white was associated with power and privileges. This was immortalized by media representations that glamorize fair -skinned actresses, normalize skin revelation products and marginalize dark -skinned women.
Practicing feminism: just one question of internal changes?
Now in the third year of my studies as a student of sociology and practicing feminists, such oppressive structures have become clear to me.
Nevertheless, I scroll through beauty channels myself that desperately try to find a magical solution for my scars or the latest product that heals me from my excessive melanin.
Just like the five -year -old I stand in front of the mirror every morning, which hides my acnespaces and dark lips.
The myth of “furnishing” weighs me every day while I strive to put the unpleasant parts of my body in tight, structured clothing – to form me in a form that was never mine at first.
The myth of “furnishing” weighs me every day while I strive to put the unpleasant parts of my body in tight, structured clothing – to form me in a form that was never mine at first.
The deep internalization of gender standards, even for practicing feminists, led to them that they could not escape such norms. This internalization not only manifests itself through internal beliefs, but through everyday experiences and relationships with others in society that actively strengthen such beliefs. Even feminists can experience cognitive dissonance: intellectually rejected Eurocentric beauty standards as a patriarchal rejection and is nevertheless forced to avoid them for self -esteem, self -confidence or simply social punishments.
Social sanctions use neglected, “lazy” or less professional and can be exposed to discrimination or exclusion in both personal and professional areas.
I often question my compliance with these norms and ended up after a deeper reflection that the construction of self -image is not a question of inner self -love, but is very well attributed to social relationships and social confirmations. The principle of “kindness” is difficult to follow in practice
Deviation and freedom of beauty standards are therefore not just a question of internal change. The dissonance that results from such a deviation is constructed by the internationalization of social values. It is not a question of internal courage to detach yourself from the confirmation of such social values, but requires a systematic drive for changing social relationships and a supporting system that promotes differences instead of keeping them in a hierarchical relationship.
Sohalika Shrivastava is a student in the 3rd year at Iit Madras Out and shortly before it is to carve a niche. In her free time she likes to read about animal facts and likes to learn