All Bodies Are Beautiful Stop Body Shaming
Body shaming refers to the act of criticizing or making negative comments about someone’s physical appearance, size, or shape. I came to know of this terminology quite late in life, maybe it did exist since eternity but it got added to my vocabulary recently. The moment I derived what it meant, I had an instant connection with this word. Many of us experience this phenomenon knowingly or unknowingly. I was subject to derision since my childhood because of my small stature. I was often ridiculed and bullied by my elder cousins which resulted in low self-esteem. Baldness is one such thing that causes a lot of embarrassment to the guy, more so if it crops up in the mid-twenties, the prime youth.
It was wonderfully depicted in the movie, “Bala” which struck a chord with me. Although quite a bit of humor was added to the innumerable methods. Bala tries to get back the hair growth on his scalp, the sorrow in his eyes is hard to miss and says it all. Bala, the protagonist of the movie, once used to be a heartthrob of his classmates. Especially girls were being mocked so often now because of his baldness, that he loses his confidence. The complexion of skin is yet another attribute that is often jeered in our society. We, Indians are so obsessed with a fair complexion that we would go to any extent to acquire a light skin tone.
We can spend loads of money on fairness creams and visit every new beauty parlor. Which proclaims to lighten your skin color or remove all the blemishes off your face and make you look like a supermodel. Even the matrimonial profiles describe the complexion of the girl as fair or whiteish for not-so-fair skin types, none of the girls want to call themselves dark. Then obesity is one more attribute. None of us thinks twice before calling that person so. During childhood, these kids are bullied, laughed at, and sometimes beaten because of their size.
This goes on into adulthood as well. So much so that these people themselves learn to cut jokes, about their plus size or eating habits. Probably that’s their way of making peace with their body. I am sure all of them long to lose weight and probably try everything possible to shed off the extra flab. But for how long can one eat only salads, soups, and sprouts? At one point in time, they give up and their genetic makeup puts them back in their original plump shape. The list is endless. I loved the way movie, Bala. Depicted Latika, a girl with a dark complexion who overcomes her flaws. And becomes a successful lawyer and Bala learns to live with his premature baldness by throwing away his wig high up in the air.
Friends! Let’s start a body positivity movement. By not mentioning any imperfections during our conversations and focusing on the positive attributes the person possesses. After all, we don’t have any control over our inheritance, as they say,” You can’t choose your parents”. When you judge someone by their appearance, it doesn’t define the person, it defines you. Be confident and wear a smile because it makes your face beautiful. Body language should speak louder than body type. Let your smile be more contagious than the virus. So approve yourself as you are.
#Stayconfident #Stayhappy #Spreadpositivity.
Dr. Manisha Shembekar
MD, DA
Joint Managing Director
Omega Hospital, Nagpur