Our body is our temple, or is it?

I am quite active on social media and one of the millions who indulge in mindless scrolling. But the hardest part comes when I have to share a picture of myself on these platforms. From the camera angle, and background setting, to the clothes I am wearing, my overall appearance, and ensuring all my “not-so-good” features are concealed, I do it all. Finally, what makes way to your social media feeds is an image masked by the pretence that all is perfect. I am sure this isn’t unknown to most of us and we too are guilty of doing this ourselves.?

But why do we do this??

Nowadays, we place enormous value on not just how we look but how are we looked at, and how are we perceived by others. With an ever-increasing emphasis on idealised bodies and physiques, we have become extremely critical of our bodies and have surrendered to the pressure of matching up to unrealistic beauty standards. Such insecurities give way to not just feeling stigmatized about our bodies, but also looking down upon others, thereby leading to what we call body-shaming.

On the contrary, we ourselves are torch-bearers of this irrational trend. We pretend to be perfect but when we see imperfection in others, we voice it out and shame them. We tend to interpret bodies by race, ethnicity, gender, hair, skin, size, clothing and the list is endless.

Fat people, for instance, are considered to be lazy, reckless, irresponsible and a blot on society. They are often associated with laughable jokes and are assumed to be under-confident by nature. Similarly, a black girl with a white kid is mostly considered to be his maid/caretaker. When hanging around with other young men, a black woman is often slut shamed. Such dogmas are omnipresent and deeply rooted in our complex systems.

Male body-shaming is not too far behind. The famous Hollywood actor, Jason Momoa, during his vacation, displayed a relaxed set of abs, and was immediately called “dad-bod”. Vin Diesel, the Fast & Furious star, also had to face flak when he posted a picture with a protruding belly.

What triggered this change?

The study of the Venus of Willendorf (a limestone figurine), found in the earlier 20th century brought forward two aspects that were highly valued for the ancient beings – reproduction and abundance. Voluptuous curvy bodies were found to be attractive from a childbearing perspective. But in the last century, the ideal body image changed drastically. Till the 1960s, the idolised body was represented by Marilyn Munroe but a decade later, she was replaced by a thin-built model named Twiggy. With the latter gaining more prominence, thin bodies began to be associated with prestige, and pride and enlarged the gap between actual and ideal body sizes, thereby sowing the seeds of self-disparagement.

Moreover, during the pandemic, social media glorified body transformations of celebrities which were considered to be the new normal. And instead of taking the healthy, long-term route, we resorted to short-cuts to pursue flawless physiques. In this pursuit, we inadvertently embraced all forms of body shaming - fat shaming, color shaming, heightism, and despised anyone who appeared even marginally different from the “ideal” structures.

This requires a mindset shift

Nothing to lose, an award-winning dance theatre production launched by renowned choreographer Kate Champion along with fat activist Kelli Drinkwater, challenges the stereotypes of what a dancer’s body should look like. It is a visual spectacle of fat bodies in motion and the theme is bold and unapologetic. In one of her interviews, Kelli talked about how strongly anti-fat bias is ingrained in our minds, and that we rarely question why.

Another pertinent example could be the fashion industry. Although they have the power to change the culture, not many have dared to go against the norm. Fashion designers are taught to drape mannequins with size 4 and hence, different sized bodies are not accounted for. They continue to revere thin, young, white, able-bodied models which becomes the trend in no time.

“This definition of beauty is damaging and destructive” quips Becca McCharen-Tran, an American fashion designer who launched a fashion label called Chromat. This fashion label has adopted a non-conformist approach, it focuses on creating garments for all bodies, of various shapes and sizes. On the ramp, these models proudly flaunt their curves, scars, and even stretch marks.

It’s high time we start thinking beyond body standards and try and bring about a massive shift in the mindset. Kate Winslet lauded her colleague and friend Leonardo DiCaprio when the latter’s words transformed her life during their Titanic shooting days.

Kate was always picked on owing to her weight by her friends and colleagues. These unsolicited comments took a huge toll on her confidence. Her confidence was only restored when one fine day, DeCaprio told her, “It’s really important that you are the shape that you are”.

The overarching reality will always overshadow the fallacy within which we reside and that is, that bodies come in all shapes and sizes, that’s how they are designed to be. I am not saying that our bodies need not be improved, of-course they do. But it’s our body and only we have the right to decide what to do with it.

Our body is our temple, and no one can nourish it better than we ourselves.

“You define beauty yourself. Society doesn’t define your beauty”?– Lady Gaga

Did you feel “unlensed” after reading this story from?The Unlensing. You can follow my writings at www.karanbhatia.substack.com