Beauty Lies In The Eyes Of The Beholder

We often hear this quote given by Greek philosopher Plato when people try to justify that all humans are equal regardless of how they look or what ethnicity they belong to or what language they speak. But even in this 21st century, there exists a culture that surely thinks that one should be fair and thin to achieve success in life. 

Globally speaking, there are examples everywhere to prove my fact. The “Black Lives Matter” movement started on the 13th of July, 2013 was in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager. A similar case occurred a year later with the killing of another unarmed black teen Michael Brown by a policeman which turned the organization into a national movement. With the unmerciful, horrendous killing of George Floyd protests triggered across the world to fight against this discrimination on basis of color. Close to 42 million African-American people were killed in police shootings between 2013 to 2019,  the highest no of any race. No doubt many of them were killed for illegal stuff but what about the innocent ones? These incidents fall under the category of hate crimes. What is a hate crime?

A hate crime is when someone commits a crime against you because of your disability, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religion, or any other perceived difference

According to hatecrime.osce.org, a report was published about hate crimes in 2018 with the help of data provided by 44 participating countries, 176 civil societies, and UNHCR.

Racism and Xenophobia acquire the top spot followed by Anti-Semitism and Sexual Orientation. 

Now, do you think what modernists claim that humans have grown and accepted each other with the advance of civilization is true? Still, people judge you on what color you are, what gender you are, what religion you follow and the list goes on.

Let’s talk about India. Try to see matrimonial ads in your daily newspaper.  What does a groom want? A fair girl ( not even one shade darker) of a certain caste with a certain height. Her qualifications don’t matter what matters is how she looks, what is her cultural identity, etcetera. The era of fairness creams started in India with the launch of Fair and Lovely in 1975. This product holds a total percentage of 40 in the Indian face care industry which is anticipated to generate a revenue of Rs.5000 crore by 2023. The fairness cream and bleach market of India is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of more than 9 percent in the forecast period of FY 2017-18 to FY 2022-23. Further, the men’s fairness cream market is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of 6-8 percent during the forecast period of 2018-2023. Promotions by celebrities and sportsmen followed by a crazy appetite for fair skin have led to the growth of this industry.  Things are changing slowly though. Hindustan Lever has decided to drop the word “fair” from its range of Fair and Lovely creams, Loreal has decided to remove the word “whitening ” from its products, and Johnson And Johnson have decided to stop selling its whitening creams which are popular in the Middle East and Asia especially India amidst the rise in global racism. Actors like Taapsee Pannu have said a no to the endorsement of creams that support unrealistic beauty standards. Still, the obsession with fair skin is deep-rooted and who else will know that better than an average teen who is constantly given advice by elders on how one could brighten her complexion to find a suitable life partner (compatibility begone to hell) or by peers making fun of them. From putting on besan (chickpea flour) to using coal these everyday hacks are the shortcut to change one’s melanin concentrations. 

At this time we are suffering from a pandemic called Corona ( sorry conspiracy theorists it actually is deadly and not caused by a bacteria) where wild theories of the virus’ origin and a global controversy to make people ready for 5G and scanning are loud galore, people have not left a stone unturned to differentiate between the sick and the normal. Government leaders and senior officials in some instances have directly or indirectly encouraged hate crimes, racism, or xenophobia by using anti-Chinese rhetoric. Several political parties and groups, including in the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Canada have also latched onto the Covid-19 crisis to advance anti-immigrant, white supremacist, ultra-nationalist, anti-Semitic that demonize refugees, foreigners, prominent individuals, and political leaders. Racism and physical attacks on Asians as well as people of Asian descent have spiraled uncontrollably during the Corona Pandemic. A 26-year-old M.PHIL. scholar of the University of Delhi from N.E. India was allegedly spat by a man on his scooter who called her “Coronavirus “.  In Pune, a young woman from Manipur was allegedly teased by people calling her “Corona Virus aa Gaya!”. Former Indian Idol winner Meiyan Chang was called corona by unknown men on a bike who rode laughing away. And let’s not forget about the countless crimes against doctors who are actually working 24×7 to control the rage of the pandemic in our country.  A tourist from NE India was allegedly mishandled in India by a person who thought him to be Chinese. With Donald Trump calling Corona Virus a “Chinese Virus” and Mike Pompeo calling it “Wuhan Virus ” the rise of crimes against Asians has increased significantly in America too.

Let’s talk about one’s body. We all have been teased by friends as well as our adults on how thin or fat we are or how short or tall we are. Teasing about weight can lead to a 33 percent increase in body mass according to a survey. 

Some concrete facts are: 

• 44.4 percent of severely obese children experienced name-calling compared to only 10.1 percent of normal-weight children and 20.6 percent of overweight kids.
• 21 percent of severely obese children experienced physical victimization compared to only 5.4 percent of normal-weight children and 8.7 percent of overweight kids.
• 18.5 percent of severely obese children were excluded from group activities compared to only 5.4 percent of normal-weight children and 10.4 percent of overweight kids. 
• Name-calling also exists in children who are underweight who are considered equal to a stick. Even height plays a very important role. If you are too short you are given various potions kind of drinks to increase your height or if you are too tall you are considered a superhuman who could do anything with your height. These people don’t actually realize about genetics. Also, the nonacceptance of different sexual orientations and homophobia in today’s society has put a serious question mark to our progress till now as a human. Surely it was great at the time of Australopithecus when religion and other barriers didn’t exist.

Everything here goes on a face value no one truly accepts one for one’s true identity. But there are some people who are striving to change things around. These people are trying to create an equal haven for all kinds of people in whatever shape they come. We should look inside ourselves and think if what we were in the place of the aggravated.  What would we feel? Let’s try to be there for every human being who may not be related to us by blood but is related by a bond bigger than that: of humanity and universal love.

By Sejal Gupta