Are you comfortable in your own skin?

Are you comfortable in your own skin? 

Mrs  Leena Sohoni

It all starts in school...as early as in the first or second grade. Someone decides to call  that little chubby boy on the first bench “Fatso”. A little shy girl  wearing glasses is bullied in the class  and everyone starts calling her names like  “Googly-Eyes”.

A teenager girl develops a sudden crop of acne on her face and feels like hiding from everyone for fear of being ridiculed. 

This has been happening all over the world since time immemorial. The tendency to derive pleasure from the misery of others is described in German as “Schadenfreude”, meaning malicious joy. 

Body Shaming means nothing but criticizing someone for their appearance or bodily defects either directly or indirectly, to their face or even behind their back. Each one of us has been a victim to this body shaming at the hands of others at least once in our lifetime. We in turn have inadvertently taken part in body shaming someone else at some point in time. But more than us common people it’s the celebrities who suffer the most. If those celebrities are from the film  Industry or fashion industry, the chances of them being trolled for their appearance (or for some change that they have undergone in their appearance) are far greater. Remember,  how Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan   was trolled on Twitter  incessantly for having put on weight after her baby’s  birth? The poor woman  was not even  allowed to enjoy her motherhood. Another Miss World Priyanka Chopra, who is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world,  has recently reflected on times during her adolescence in which she was bullied  for her appearance, particularly for the color of her skin. 

According to our Ex Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi’s  biographer Katherine  Frank, ...“adolescent Indira reportedly overheard her aunt describing her as ‘ugly and stupid’, which she never forgot.” This opinion expressed by her aunt hurt the thirteen year old no end. Soon after being voted PM for the first time, Indiraji recalled, “She (V. Pandit) did everything to destroy my confidence; she called me ugly and stupid. Faced with hostility, however well prepared I am, I get tongue tied and withdraw”. 

The Creator  has crafted this body, its each and every organ with a specific purpose in mind. To quote the bible: “The hearing ear  and the seeing eye, the LORD made them both.”

The function of our nose is to smell, be it crooked or sharp, the function of the eyes is to see. It doesn’t matter, if they are attractive or just two tiny slits. But instead of respecting these organs, we judge them by their appearance! What’s the point of  shaming people for those organs  that are  working non stop to keep people    alive and healthy?  

For reasons unbeknownst to us the society has  a certain set of ridiculous standards about how men and women are supposed to look like. These standards are not only   ridiculous but they are  hopelessly unrealistic too. The creams that promise to make you fairer are imparting a silent message to young girls , that it is not ok to have a dusky skin tone. A curvy well built woman is scorned and pencil thin anorexic fashion models with no flesh on their body are upheld as the epitome of beauty in the eyes of the media. Young girls go to any lengths  in order to fit into this ludicrous criteria, from fad diets to joining weight loss clinics. Guys sweat it out in the inanely  expensive gyms, paying through their nose, trying to pump up their muscles to attain that perfect fit body like their screen God, no matter what. 

 The media too contributes to body shaming in the society by suggesting men and women that they are not okay the way they look right now. They advertise their sponsorer’s products like beauty treatment creams or weight loss items in such a way, that people are suggested to  buy these  products in order to look better.  These subtle or sometimes even blatant   advertisements that appear regularly in the media do their bit by ruining young generation’s self esteem furthermore. 

Media’s effect on body image can cause self-image issues which can lead to eating disorders, drug and alcohol use and bullying.

The body shaming behavior doesn’t stop here. Knowingly or unknowingly it has reached real people in their day to day  lives. Sometimes it’s fat shaming, sometimes it’s skinny shaming!   Everyone has a different type of body, everyone should be allowed to view and love themselves without having to hear the persuasive and dangerous opinion of other  people.

The solution to ending body shaming is not some arduous task. It is  simply just keeping your opinion to yourself and letting everyone live in peace. 

American actress, author and activist Jamie Lee Curtis  once said, 

“Don't judge a book by its cover 'til you've read the book.”  What a wonderful thought! 

I, for one, would try to imagine myself in that person’s shoes before I judge the person by their appearance, even if it’s just in my mind. 

Let’s be all comfortable in our own skin!