For ages, patriarchy has been the norm and female obedience has been a consequence but even with feminist movements across the world, the female body is an idea which we haven’t been able to wipe off our minds.
Fat-shaming and setting un-achievable standards of beauty have become to so common that most women don’t realise the reasons behind them wanting to shed off a few pounds. I had a friend whose boyfriend dumped her recently for being “too flat.” I also know of a friend who has succumbed to anorexia after the guy she loves laughed at her appearance. If these aren’t instances of reinforcements which force women to slowly give into standards set by men, I don’t know what ever will be.

We can’t blame the men only! They have set standards of beauty and we are conforming to them without even raising a question so the oppressor here is to blame as well. Women are at fault for picking on other women and buttress arguments for a flawless and conventional body. I had come back from a National Sports camp and instead of congratulating my achievement, all an aunty could say was “ How thin has she become, how will she give birth?

Image credit: dazzledigitals

In no way are we maligning people with skinny bodies or advocating obese ones. All I am saying is that while calling a woman a “fatso”, there are a lot of factors that we usually forget to key in like genetic makeup; thereby, pushing her into a whirlwind of self-doubt and in severe cases, depression. The need to become ‘Gram worthy in young girls is so demanding that almost 5% of girls have tried some extreme form of dieting at some point. The media promoting master cleanse and juice diets and celebrities validating these claims just add to the pressure.

This brings to question the age-old beliefs “was man really born to rule?” I mean look at the world riddled with war, terror, disorderliness, chaos and lack of responsible leadership. The future can go to ways: The road we’ve been walking down for long, the one of obeying or choosing a path less taken of breaking stereotypes and indulging in self-love.

The society will always judge and man will always put conditions on how you should look. Breaking through the chains don’t look and isn’t easy. But embracing your flaws and accepting them as normal is the first step to shunning the narrow beauty template you’re expected to follow. Stop telling yourself that you are fat, ugly or unworthy because you don’t fit into a size. You were put onto this earth to do better things that shrink your body and thus, you need to focus on achieving them.