We women love to look our best on all occasions. Be it a birthday party, a baby shower, convocation, or a wedding. Pedicures, facials, spa sessions, we do it all-to stand out in the crowd. But what is it that one factor, that pushes us to the edge of undergoing all those painful grooming sessions . Is it the desire to get noticed or we simply want to impress the men around?
What is it that one thing that always drives us to look best, wear the best dresses, apply make up and stand in front of the mirror for hours finding one minor glitch, and asking your man several times “How do I look baby”. I have asked this question to myself a several times: Is it the society that pressurizes women to look a certain way -“always beautiful,with silk tresses and a slender waist?”.
The answer may be-Yes!
The society especially media portrays an image that always shows women as flawless and airbrushed. Look at those skinny models in magazines and television, they are portrayed as “beautiful and desirable”. The definition of being beautiful has changed over the years, and not a single woman wants to fall out of it. No doubt, wrinkles and gaining weight with age have become a reason enough to worry.
The irony still exists! Don’t we accept men as they are? Then why only women need to alter appearances in order to look desirable.
Seeking answers, I spoke to some of my male friends, and found out that most men would prefer a natural looking women over a plastic doll, and all of them stated that too much of make up is a turn off as well. So my statistics reveal that it is not men, but a woman’s own mind that relates beauty with a “36-24-36 ,flawless image”. But,Why? Where did this image come from?
In India, the criteria for an eligible bride is -“wanted a fair,slim, girl who cooks well and is convent educated”. Come on, we all had a look at those nasty matrimonial ads. Every one here,in India wants a bride who is “beautiful-gori (To be specific)”.
So I think Society definitely has a role to play here. The perfect image created in a girl’s mind is fed to her right from the childhood where nani’s, dadi’s even mothers urge their daughters to apply the layers of “haldi and chandan ubtan”, stating “sunder nahi lagegi to tujhse shadi kaun karega?”
Moving on to the next aspect of why women want to look beautiful, if you think that women dress up for impressing men, you may not be totally right. Women dress up for other women, not men, especially the married ones. Hilarious! Yeah this sounds funny but it’s true. In social gatherings, women always compete with their female counterparts “Her dress shouldn’t be better than mine, or ohh! she has lost weight, I better slim down too!”
Trapped into unrealistic world, most women are not far down the way of being plastic maniacs! But it is high time that we know the reality now. Know that skin lightening creams can never lighten your skin because that is genetic. You will age one day, botox doesn’t help for long. Starving has never done good to anybody, and if you really want to starve, why not donate a meal to a hungry person.
Yes, the society expects us to look a certain way,but we can always change it. So here are three instant steps to look beautiful,
Eat healthy, Think right, Sleep well.
Remember women are born beautiful.