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It is not uncommon for feminist groups to be affronted by what is termed the ‘beauty contest culture’. Their line of thought is that beauty contests end up projecting women as mere commodities and that such contests puts pressure in … Continue reading →
The post Contesting Beauty appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.
The post Contesting Beauty appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.
It is not uncommon for feminist groups to be affronted by what is termed the ‘beauty contest culture’. Their line of thought is that beauty contests end up projecting women as mere commodities and that such contests puts pressure in terms of how they look and what size they stay in. Still others take affront with the manner in which the cosmetics sector string along young women into buying products ranging from make up to dental and facial surgeries that are supposed to make them look better. In fact there can be no denial that more than even before, there is that much of social pressure to look good, to dress up well and to stay in good shape. Young girls, some before they reach 10 years of age fall into the trap of maintaining figures and end up dieting and it is not unusual to see them in beauty salons getting their hands manicured etc in Manipur. Keats wrote “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” as the first line of his poem Endymion but clearly, the ‘beauty’ that is being dissected today is a different creature altogether. What beauty contests really end up doing is the end projection of a standard norm of an hourglass figure even though those associated with organizing such contests, show their appreciation for ‘brains’ by putting in some question and answer round that is supposed to be a parameter for poise and ‘presence of mind’. At the most, the winners of such contests end up getting into the glamour industry: be it the world of films or modeling. This is true globally and in India.
For all the criticisms leveled against such contests, the other bit of reality is that the beauty or glamour industry has also given wings to the career of many young people. This holds true not just of the contest winners and participants but also, for make up artists, hairdressers, dress designers, stylists, photographers, choreographers and many others who get employment opportunities. While many may balk at the ‘peer pressure’ of having to conform to certain statistical standards for being considered a beauty, the winning phase of beauty contestants from India at international pageants and their resulting careers have inspired small town girls to get into the domain by brushing up social and language skills. The search for the next ‘best face’ takes cosmetic giants to small towns across the country, in the process leaving the footprints of their business.
Caught between the pros and the cons of the beauty culture, the middle path would be leave it to people to decide for themselves. If one finds beauty contests offensive, the best way of dealing with it would be to turn off the TV and have nothing to do with them. A one day seminar with prominent citizens of the state getting together to talk tough on the culture of beauty contests comes across as a more ‘liberal’ form of censure where a few visible vocal group gets together to silence the silent majority. There can be no legitimacy of a few voices deciding for the rest of the society to begin with. There are more serious issues at hand that needs to be discussed by citizens: starting from the lack of electricity to drinking water to the state of roads and the lack of transport and communication. A beauty contest cannot override all other issues in nature of importance, significance or an urgency to be addressed right away. In light of recent incidences of sexual violence being in public domain at both the national and state level followed by the Verma Commission report and the ordinance thereafter, it would have been more apt to give time and thought on what needs to be done to keep the debate on the ordinance also covering sexual violence in militarized zones under cover of various laws that give impunity.
One major problematic area of the beauty contest culture is the consumer-commodity quid pro. But simply put, if there are no takers for such spectacles, there will essentially be no need to sweep its reality under a carpet and say they are alien to ‘our culture’. Beauty and its glorification exists in every society and in every sphere of our lives which is why there are standards for what is considered ‘beautiful’ ‘traditional’ ‘feminine’. The moment such concepts are down away with, there would be no need for any agency to decide what is beauty.
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