Body shaming Archives - DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Women have internalised unrealistic beauty standards which are so deep-rooted that they fail to grasp the misogynistic reasoning behind them.

Girls, on reaching the age of adolescence, begin to follow beauty routines religiously. Beauty standards, which have been ingrained within young girls from the beginning, and they are made to believe that beauty is the ultimate goal for women. Maintaining a beautiful face, a body with minimal marks, and fair skin are the definitions of pretty women, people from all over the world believe in, completely disregarding the idea that beauty is subjective.

Most women claim to have started shaving or waxing their body hair because some boys in middle school called them ugly for having hair on their arms. Removing body hair is a personal choice, but many women despise the idea of spending so much money on razors and waxing. Also, women have to endure physical pain involved in the process of hair removal if we consider razor burns and ripping out the hair follicle.Having smooth skin feels great, but not at the cost of shouldering such pain. Hairless skin is associated with beauty, and so many women despise the natural elements of their bodiessuch as body hair.

Recently, women from all over the world voiced their opinions on social media and boycotted body hair removal products as part of a campaign called ‘Januhairy’. Many of these women claimed that body hair is empowering for them and embracing body hair made them feel liberated.Frida Kahlo, a widely celebrated artist, has been considered the epitome of beauty for decades, and she was an inspiration for young women all over the world. She chose to free herself from the clutches of patriarchy and went on to make her infamous self-portraits. Over the past few decades, Frida Kahlo has been put forth as an example for giving women’s body image a boost. She carried her facial hair with pride without considering what others had to say about her body.Most women comply with the ‘need’ to remove body hair because of the forces of the patriarchal system that we live in.

These beauty standards have been carved in our minds permanently, and we follow these faux ‘needs’ baselessly. Ayushi Attri, a student of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, opines: “The hair roots penetrating through my skin is not a problem, rather the roots clutching our minds shadowed by these patriarchal norms is. The hair, in fact, is not a problem, but perceiving them as a problem is.”Many women have faced criticism from other women for choosing to embrace their body hair. The act of defiance initself is a big step that women of this era aretaking.Inadditiontothis,mediahas played a considerably negative role in sending out wrong messages for young girls. Body hair on men and women are perceived differently. Men with relatively less facial hair are considered feminine.Bollywood had a way with choosing actors with more hair, so as to portray them as masculine and strong. On the other hand, if a woman carries body hair with such finesse, terms like ‘manly’ and ‘ugly’ areused for her.

Most women comply with the tradition of a hairless body just because they fear getting judged by society. There are several gender roles surrounding shaving, and women have been conditioned into thinking that shaving or waxing is a necessity.Body hair must be embraced with everyone, be it a man or a woman. It should bring forth any emotions of embarrassment or shame; rather it must be symbolic of our confidence.

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Suhani Malhotra
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To name and shame is an offence to human dignity and identity and an unforgivable sin worthy of the severest form of retribution.

In my childhood, I was teased and bullied for being fat. Monikers like tubby, roly-poly and plump were so frequently hurled at me, that my gullible nine year old self lost her identity (and eventually, sanity) to these derogatory labels.

During my teenage, I was teased and bullied for being skinny. This meant dealing with the censure and disdain of ‘concerned’ friends and family, who did nothing but accuse me of harbouring disorders like bulimia and anorexia (when, in fact, I was certified healthy by the doctor). So you see, it appears that all my life, I have been a victim of body shaming, having experienced a bitter dose of both its nasty faces.

Body shaming is defined as inappropriate negative statements and attitudes towards another person’s weight or size. Many misunderstand it to mean discrimination against only the overweight. However, today even the skinny aren’t spared with the humiliation and shame. Body shaming occurs when: a) one criticises one’s own appearance, b) one criticises another’s appearance in front of them, or c) one criticises another’s appearance without their knowledge. Whatever be the form that body shaming assumes, the ugly fact of the matter is that a practice like body shaming upholds the idea that one’s appearance is the all-important and sole parameter for judging a person’s personality and character.

The irony of a notion like body shaming is that the one who victimises the overweight/skinny for being physically ‘unhealthy’ is in fact, himself/herself mentally ‘unhealthy’ for perpetuating such a sick and deprecating opinion. But my problem with body shaming doesn’t end with one complaint.

Body shaming is defined as inappropriate negative statements and attitudes towards another person’s weight or size.

Firstly, I hate the idea of sizing up a person (quite literally) for what they look like. Secondly, I fail to understand who gets the authority to decide what looks good, healthy or desirable and what looks bad, unhealthy and ugly. And finally, the ruthlessness with which the media champions body shaming and the shamers (sometimes subtly, but mostly with a laudatory stance) is not just infuriating personally, but also quite chilling, given the media’s mass appeal and influence.

Body shaming reflects society’s hypocritical method of appraising human beings. While at one end, it encourages and rewards distinctiveness of merit, intelligence, skill and ability, at the other end, it censoriously mocks the uniqueness of size and shape. Body shaming is akin to a heinous crime, with dire consequences on one’s mental health and self-image. Body shaming must end.

Watch this space for more in part 2 of our three part installment article on Body Shaming.

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Kriti Sharma
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