Harmful beauty standards are a great reason for poor self-esteem among women. One side of the debate is that, in the real world, appearances matter. But the question is, at what cost are we willing to let this affect people’s mental health? So, this leads us to question what women think about Indian beauty standards, especially because, they’re much worse and hurtful for women than for men. Here, take a look at what we’ve discovered, and what women have revealed:
1. “There’s a common beauty standard irrespective of your age. You need to fit into this standard whether you’re a teenager, an adult or even older.
1. You must be super fair.
If you aren’t fair you would get bullied in your schools, might face difficulties in finding a job, and much more, as shown by some stupid fairness cream ads.
2. You should be slim but curvy.
3. You should have sharp/European features.
I. E. You should have a long straight slender nose with no bumps on it, medium-sized forehead, big eyes, oval-shaped face, long eyelashes, thick eyebrows etc.”
2. “Having milky white skin obsession tops the list. Other beauty standards include having long thick flowy hair, skinny but wide hips or an hourglass figure (‘because men like curves’), perfectly threaded eyebrows, having a hairless face & body, lighter eyes (some people wear terrible coloured lenses for this), sharp jawline/high cheekbones, round face and ‘No makeup make-up look’ (this means that you gotta look naturally pretty and men should never know you’ve put on make-up to achieve this look).”
– Anonymous
3. “Many girls who have an hourglass or pear-shaped body are made to feel insecure at an early age cause they look ‘fat’ and should lose weight but when it’s time to get married….’Put on some weight na you look like a straight stick’ blah blah * gunshots.*”
4. “A sharp small pointy nose.”
5. “Light-toned underarms.”
6. “Big eyes, delicate bone structure, innocent features, thick long hair, fair skin, slim with small chest, small lips.”
– Anonymous
7. “As a tall woman who looks strong (I do have extra pounds but I carry them well) I get this a lot. ‘Ghode jaisi badi ho gai hai, isse kon shaadi karne ke liye milega,’ ‘Aadmi jaisi lambi hai’.. ‘Ladkiyon jaise dikha karo’..’Tum ladka ho kya?’. The fact that my ex casually said that he would have snuggled with me better if I were a little shorter/smaller, just hurt. Don’t date tall girls if you cannot handle them! I AM tall. I can’t help it alright.”
8. “Literally snow-white like skin with Pocahontas like hair and a narrow waist, with a decent butt.”
– Iniyaraj·
9. “My sister gets praised a lot for being fair and having clearer skin than mine, comparatively. I have extremely pigmented skin with a lot of acne and all I get to hear is ‘Kab saaf hoga tera chehra.’ Ouch.”
What do you think about beauty standards, tell us in the comments.
