IS BEAUTY REALLY IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER?
Now, we have all heard the famous saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but is it safe to say that this statement may not apply in a western society in 2015? Not only in a western society, but in different areas across the globe, surely there is a certain standard of beauty, right? I’m positive, that every single person reading this article has an insecurity which they try to conceal and I am no exception! But, are these so called ‘insecurities’ really just society telling us that we’re simply not good enough? Are our thoughts controlled by society?
A BBC news article from 2011 discussed that St Tropez, a renowned company revolved around tanning products, stating that it “sells three bottles of bronzing mousse a minute around the world. In the UK, 41% of women use self-tanning products, the company says.” These are extremely astonishing statistics. Women, particularly in the UK and US, have made tanning an ‘essential’ for them when summer rolls around, in fact, it is not unusual to see women looking golden and glistening even when running Christmas errands. However that’s not to say that men don’t hop on the bandwagon, oh no. It was revealed that of the men aged 16-24, 27% use tanning products in the UK. Well, how can we blame these people? We all strive to be ‘beautiful’, so if the well-known reality star Kim Kardashian West is always looking sun-kissed, surely us women would crave some of that ‘dewiness’ too, right? Not to mention the horrendously charming Zac Efron is always on the red carpets, exuding that gorgeous July weather, no wonder many men enjoy a little visit to the salon every few months! But, this ‘tanning craze’ is definitely not the norm in other countries in the world… A 2013 article from ‘The Guardian’ uncovered that “In 2010, India's whitening-cream market was worth $432m, according to a report by market researchers ACNielsen, and was growing at 18% per year. Last year, Indians reportedly consumed 233 tonnes of skin-whitening products, spending more money on them than on Coca-Cola.” Wow, quite a significant contrast in comparison to the figures regarding tanning. Being from a Southern-Asian country myself, I can assure you that in this particular region of the world, the paler you are, the better. Multiple women living in countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh etc., with a darker complexion, have grown to despise themselves and there are large numbers of people who are yet to be wedded simply because they are ‘too dark’ so do not appeal to anyone visually. Visit any local shop in these countries and believe me, there will be shelves and shelves of whitening creams. Switch on the telly and many adverts will be about getting fairer, a huge whitening company based in South- East Asia is actually branded as ‘Fair and lovely’. But the thing is, we all desire something that we don’t have, so if being born with paler skin is not the norm, then that, is the ‘standard of beauty’.
The list is absolutely endless when it comes to a topic like this, I could go on and on about body image, wide hips, no hips, 6 pack, 8 pack, no pack, eye colour, eye shape, eye size, face shape, face symmetry, hair colour, hair length, thin hair, no hair, tall, short, big feet, small feet, button nose, bigger nose, thin lips, plump lips, small chin, big chin, chubby fingers, slender fingers, white teeth, stained teeth, straight teeth, wonky teeth a dazzling smile and a crooked smile. However, the concept remains the same. It has come to the point where beauty isn’t in the eye of the beholder unfortunately, many of us are blinded by some aspects of the media who persuade us that ‘this is what makes a woman beautiful’ or ‘this is what makes a man a keeper’. I for one, want to demolish this mind set completely. I’ve witnessed far too many young teenage girls suffering from horrible medical conditions and mental health issues because they feel they are not beautiful. Every flaw is what makes us perfect, but let’s not forget that a flaw to you may be a beautiful sight for someone else. So the next time you look in the mirror and don’t like what’s in the reflection, remember that perfection is not always easy to see. Maria Raheel Bancroft’s School
