“My Body is Perfect”….said no Woman Ever!

“My Body is Perfect”….said no woman ever or metrosexual man actually! Body image is one of the biggest patrons of the economy all over the World. As they say, the Pharmaceutical industry rides on fear, the whole gamut of beauty, medicine, clothing, nutrition, psychology to a large extent, and the list goes on as it does run on our non-acceptance of self. When the truth is, our self is beyond skin deep. I can’t recollect having known of any records where an Obstetrician or a Mid-Wife would hand a baby saying, ” Dear me, you did overfeed this podgy package ” or “A little skin bleach, and he’s precious.”It is Society and Social Stigmas that give us the gift of Guilt: an offering that keeps giving, even when we try to refrain! It’s not just India; woman all around the World or maybe Universe- ( since they are questioning life on Mars) have been exposed to this Pandoras Box. A while back, I did my dissertation on ‘Indian Women Body Types’ (Should have just worked on a cure for cancer instead…. far easier). However, after the Data Collection of more than 20,000 Women. The synopsis was not only misgiving but also greatly worrisome for our future generations, as it’s an abstract that has been on an escalating high for centuries. More than 95% of the woman were non accepting of their bodies, and the other few were working on retaining the confidence they possess with a lot of effort and self-affirmations. Botox was a newfound friend too, of course not mentioned, but the reflection bouncing off their foreheads while I interviewed them was a bit of a giveaway. With no opinion though, I feel if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad. BC changed to AD, and the documented scripts show that women were worshipped in the past for their magical ability to procreate and take forward the generations, which is why the figurines excavated have big bosoms and hips, as does Botticelli’s Venus. I doubt any creations in history have emaciated rib showing figures representing beauty; this is because women were and should be connected to happiness, positivity, and all the other positive, feel-good words and not reduced to only an image your eyes can see. However, with time came the intermingling of different lands and their people and introducing various fashions. Instead of loosening a few corset strings, we set out to starve ourselves to fit into a fit made for another. Instead of realizing that genetics play a big role in our shapes and color, we started questioning and dismissing ourselves. We yearned to become fairer, thinner, more voluptuous, less tall, smaller feet, bigger boobs, and the list goes on because so do our desires. Hence, we became a delight for all Dr. Victor Frankensteins, who fill their pockets by carving new features like thanksgiving turkeys on unhappy people who have image issues and lots of money. Feminism starts from our own selves…. Acceptance of who you really are, our core selves, our color, shape, and size. How can we expect to be accepted and respected by others if we first don’t know how to fall in love with ourselves. As the wise have said, ‘ Self Love is the greatest middle finger of all time.’ As children in winters post our hot steamy bath, our mother would wipe off the frosty mirror and encourage us to see how beautiful and fresh we looked, she would ask us to take in the fragrance of the top-rated and lovely pears soap we used and at the rate of turning us into total narcissistic personalities, she would ask us to kiss our soft skin.I must confess as a teenager, I thought my mom was a pervert and was teaching us foreplay tricks, but today as a woman, I realize she was invoking all my senses towards self-love. She was teaching me to respect what the Universe had presented me with. She was teaching me who I really was and not what society would see me as, and she was teaching me to give a damn about any negativity that anyone throws my way. Like Alice in wonderland, our body is an amalgamation of crazy, beautiful, and mysterious- embrace it, love it, own it!!