“How do I get a figure like the celebrity in the movie?”
“Which fairness cream works the best?”
“What make-up brands must I use to look Instagram-worthy?”
“What works better- intermittent fasting or a keto diet?”
These are some of the conversations one is sure to hear were they to listen to girls talking among themselves.
As a generation that spends close to three hours of their day on one social media platform or the other, we are exposed to a plethora of information that we use to calculate our own self-worth. Media portrayals are no longer realistic or even close to the truth, they are morphed versions of what we consider perfection.
Consider the following scenario.
A young girl, scrolling through her phone, comes across a picture of her favorite media personality. She is instantly enamored by the way the person looks: the “perfect figure”, the flawless skin tone, and the seemingly make-up free look. What the young girl does not know is that the picture that she sees is far-removed from the original.
The picture has been air-sprayed, the person’s cheeks digitally pinched, their natural greys covered over. It is far from a realistic portrayal of what that person would look like even with make-up. The young girl doesn’t see any of that. She sees what society has taught her. A perfect figure with defined features and a radiating “natural beauty”. Since beauty has been defined and reinforced for her, she now believes she must do everything she can to look the same way. She goes on diets to attain a figure that looks lovely on camera but will lead her down the one-way road to anorexia and malnutrition. She slathers her face with fairness creams packed with chemicals disguised as vitamins. When all of this fails to work- and it most inevitably does- she blames herself for not being pretty enough. The influences around her are so powerful, they make her forget what humans look like. She doesn’t realize that if she were to see the same person she saw on her social media feed earlier, while grocery shopping, she wouldn’t even take a second glance!
This scenario is not limited to one girl, it resonates with millions of young people. Young men and women who are walking down the streets will see their favorite TV actor’ face plastered across a billboard, embodying society’s definition of perfect. We do not teach our girls to be perfect in their own way or by the dint of their own successes. Rather, we pit them against one another and expect them to all turn out looking like supermodels. We do not encourage perfection on the basis of talent or accomplishments, but by beauty and marriage. Unfortunately enough, the media has only reinforced these toxic patterns.
Motion pictures that portray college life are a fine example. A college student is judged, - purely by her dramatic entrance, and the fashion statement she makes -,but not by her achievements. She could be the Valedictorian of her class, and yet the focus would be on the one spot on her chin. Her boyfriend (having one is portrayed like a prerequisite to graduate) would be the perfect example. He is always there- at any time of the day- to “save” her and can spot her in a crowd of a hundred thousand people. Her college life is defined by her fashion statement and romantic exchanges with her boyfriend, but never by her accomplishments.
While these portrayals are magical to watch, it also fills young girls with hopes and dreams. Hopes and dreams that are magical and mystical, but far from reality. This incongruence is what leads young girls to fall prey to societal pressures. Instead, we should raise them to know that to find love, one does not need someone who looks handsome all the time and can sweep us off of our feet every time we feel upset or lonely. Teach them that we do not need a boyfriend to make it through college- our determination and hard work is all we really need.
Societal patterns have been reinforced, time and again, by the media. Whether we look at 18th Century Romantic poetry, mirroring the Victorian beliefs of what it meant to be a woman; or 21st century fairness cream advertisements that insist that one can only be “lovely” if they are “fair”. What is further alarming, is the people who ideate portrayals. Educated people- being paid in millions- make conscious choices, fully aware of the repercussions it has on young minds. It is ultimately a vicious cycle. Society wants “picture-perfect” girls, to whom career goals and achievements are almost tertiary; and media houses want to exploit this for financial advancements. Both society and media are constantly evolving, however evolution cannot be simply physical. We are at a unique time in our lives, where we have the power to call for change. To be the ones that break this vicious cycle of tainted communication, before it breaks us.
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