One doesn’t necessarily need to look ‘perfect’

Of course, the taboo has been lifted on plastic surgery in the past few years, but it is not just about that. The entire perception of how you look at yourself has become very superficial. For example, back in 2008, at the Olympics in China, there was a young girl who sung at the opening ceremony and was loved by everyone. A few weeks later, it was discovered that she was not the one singing and had been taken on stage because she was prettier than the actual singer. This is how people want to see things and if you want things to always look perfect, our focus will become very superficial.

Similarly, a selfie is a representation of the person, but it is the superficial part of the person that we see. Even the glow on your face now is considered oily skin, you are not supposed to sweat these days. There are antiperspirants that clog your pores but make sure you don’t sweat. Plastic surgery is an extreme version of these beauty products. But I feel it is for someone who has completely lost selfconfidence and doesn’t see himself or herself as perfect.

The only sign of hope is that in the last few years, I’ve seen a trend among Malayali actresses to step out in public without make-up. These are actresses that don’t have very active social media lives, but they look very genuine. A movie that is in theatres right now, Koode, has both the actresses without any make-up. So we, as the audience, will have to improve and communicate this to our younger generation that they don’t have to be perfect, they just have to be genuine.

From Ms Dhanya Dharmaraj

Freelance content writer living in Abu Dhabi