Not only did Deepika slam them on Twitter, saying ‘YES!I am a Woman.I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??’ She further said, ‘Dont talk about Woman’s Empowerment when YOU don’t know how to RESPECT Women!’ The paper has been criticised by many others from the industry too.
Just when the issue began to subside, TOI went a step ahead, targeting Aishwariya Rai Bachchan and some other Hollywood stars with its article titled, ‘Hot babes with ugly legs.’ The article listed actresses, who according to the author, have legs that should never be exposed, don’t belong to movie stars or can only be described using weird metaphors. By involving Hollywood stars, this time TOI has provoked people internationally, receiving a lot of flack from international sites like the Huffingtonpost. In an article on Huffingtonpost, Louise Court, Editor-in-Chief of British women’s magazine Cosmopolitan, said ‘I was infuriated by it – but women struggling with their body image are made even more vulnerable.’
This is not the first time media has targeted women’s body image, in general. Earlier, when Aishwarya Rai Bachchan walked the red carpet at the Cannes Festival in 2012, the media saw just one thing — her weight gain after her pregnancy. Such shameful episodes just bring to light the kind of attitudes that media has not only towards women who are pregnant and in their post-partum stage, but to women in all phases of their lives. Called ‘Gol Bacchan’by the media Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had already been criticised in the past. Also, when Marion Bartoli lifted the prestigious Wimbledon she was called ugly by the media, again a sign that a woman’s achievements never seem to be the reason for them grabbing media attention.
When a leading media source like TOI that has the power to influence millions of its readers, takes such a shallow step of criticising bodies of celebs having a crazy fan following, it can have a huge negative outcome, influencing youth to believe that their bodies aren’t good enough.
How criticising physical features leads to negative body image?
Our culture makes it difficult, in general, for women to feel adequate physically, be it in movies, TV, magazines or in real life because of body analysis that goes far beyond simply commenting about how the woman looks. That’s why, many a times, pictures are photo-shopped to make them look ideal and desirable. This consequently impacts the audience, especially young vulnerable women, who lose self-worth, their comfort and walk around with a negative body image, feeling like they aren’t perfect enough to be beautiful.
Instead of listening to the needs of their bodies, women while riding the wave of life-cycle events like puberty, post-partum and menopause, are compelled to starve themselves, manipulate their bodies, hoping that they won’t be criticised and bullied for their perceived inadequacies.
As far as the Bollywood and Hollywood is concerned, these stars have reached where they’re because of their talent and beauty. That being said, pointing out physical features and calling celebs ugly’ sends out a wrong message to young women who base how good they look on societal perceptions.
Image source: Getty images
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