REFLECTIONS

The bottles of rose water have gone stale and the jars of basan are cracked and dry. There is a faint tinge of glossy apparel and coloured skin in a world where the biggest names in the cosmetic industry are at war to stay on top of the iceberg. Cleopatra’s milk bathing routines and Pocahontas’ herbal remedies are nothing in the face of Avon’s candy scented lipsticks or Maybelline’s multicoloured eye-shadow packs. In a world where appearance is top priority and being ‘good looking’ is of utmost importance, distorted self identities and damaged self concepts are a major concern in today’s society. The pressure to ‘be thin’, the need to ‘diet’ and the want for physically enhancing materials has led to a culture that is highly influenced by shiny advertisements, fashion shows in Milan and luxuriously framed TV soaps.
However, the concept of beauty and self – image in today’s world is not completely ruined because we are presently living in an era of women’s empowerment where feminism holds fort and beauty is no longer wearing her crown in splendid glory. There are still many young girls and women who adhere to the teachings of ‘beauty is only skin deep’.
The AM Plus team conducted a survey on a group of women aged between 18 – 26 years of age on their ideas and concepts of beauty and self image and the influence society plays on their perceptions. Most of these women feel that who they are and their self-confidence makes them feel beautiful while a small percentage say that dressing up and compliments from loved ones make their day. About ninety percent of the women interviewed are of the strong opinion that looking beautiful is purely dependent on a mixture of self-confidence, an inner glow, a strong personality and happiness. Looking good however is all about one’s outer appearance. Every woman interviewed defines beauty as an inborn quality that is naturally encompassed in a person. It is best expressed as an outcome to the pure form of any emotion. Beauty is defined mainly in the realms of personality and strength of character. The responses of the interviewees also indicate a unanimous expression of the fact that Indian society defines beauty in terms of a person’s physical attributes, financial status and family background. Ninety – five percent of the respondents do not keep up to date with beauty magazines and other such paraphernalia while the remaining five percent refers to the same occasionally. Despite the will to negate imposed norms of accepted beauty, eighty five percent believe that they have to live up to a certain standard of looking good and have a certain responsibility to maintain some sort of an image.
Though it is reassuring to know that superficiality is slowly but steadily losing ground, it is plain to see that beauty will not loosen her shackles for some time to come. It is obvious and sadly true that it will take ages for human nature to judge and assess human beings in terms of personality traits and behaviour and to deem beauty as being anything beyond physical.