Body Shaming, a Culture in the Upswing!

As times change so too the problems! The digital era has its own peculiar issues to deal with. One such is the prevalence of 'body shaming' without a prick of conscience. A couple of days back I was shocked to hear an actor with political allegiance or better with a change of political allegiance mocking the differently-abled to score some political points against his opponents. This takes place everywhere and it has become the tool in the hands of a few whom 'evolution or better sense is yet to take hold of.' 

The advent of Internet brought forth immense possibilities to interact with people, to share views and to be enriched at all levels. While body shaming has been in practice from time immemorial in many ways -  think of the way the Africans were treated in the past; they were considered not to possess 'souls' - it has grown leaps and bounds in the technocratic world. Monica Lewinsky who was a victim of online humiliation after the Clinton affair came to light remarks that 'the shame sticks to like tar.' We are aware of many such incidents taking place in our society too. 

What is all the more appalling is the silence of the society. We remain meek-spectators of such instances or we ourselves in some way manifest such sickening tendencies. It will be interesting to note the symmetry between the promotion of such attitudes and the acceptable 'life-style' of people today. It is an utopia to believe that the world is going to be even, 'conscience-guided' people will be everywhere or people will honour for what we are than how we look. This is not going to happen for sure, at least not so in the near future. As the world becomes more and more virtual, there will always be some virtual stone-throwers! Body-shaming, I consider, will take proportions that we never thought it would. 

I believe that accepting oneself, one's body is the key to overcome body-shaming. It is not that easy. I took a lot of time to get rid off from my mind the way someone mimicked me in my formative years. Though I hated his way of imitating me, I internalized his depiction of me! There was anger welling up so too non-acceptance of my body. It is interesting how even those of us who claim to be well-motivated and religiously-oriented can suffer these! Fortunately, my take on my body is something different! 

Our body is our body and it is as good as any body! I do not need to be you and you need not be me. We are different bodies yet human. Another phenomenon is equally true! It is not only those who are affected by the 'body-shaming'  in need of treatment, the perpetrators as well! They too are psychologically sick! I wish we remember one of the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but the content of their character." God said to prophet Samuel "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord at the heart." May our parameters of judging be beyond the colour of the skin, the shape of the physic and the appeal it has to the eyes! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Tragedy of Macebeth

Image
Recently I was reading Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth.   The following dialogues are worth mentioning. "Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desire." Macbeth before murdering the king.  "Is this a dagger I see before me? I have thee not, and yet I see thee still." Macbeth's guilt is manifested in the form of a dagger. "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" Lady Macbeth washes her hand every quarter of an hour. She sees blood stains in her hand. Her guilt is manifested in this way. She again says: "Here is the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." It was a pleasant reading. There are a lot of things we can learn from this tragedy. There are Macbethian symptoms in our modern age. There are people who live in guilt and die of it eventually. Perhaps Shakespeare helps us to see the psychotic and neurotic tendencies that our mod
Read more

THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF PAULO FREIRE [IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION]

            1. Introduction Education has always played a vital role in the shaping of any nation. It has been the torch-bearer of human progress and thereby remained a natural component of all societies. Many men and women, both in the East and the West, have dedicated their lives for the betterment of their societies through education. One among them is Paulo Freire. He is one of the luminous intellectuals of the 20 th century whose words and deeds are closely intermingled with his experience of poverty, hard work, oppositions and exile. He was born in 1921, in Recife, the Northeast of Brazil. Freire’s family suffered greatly during the great depression of 1929. Even as a boy he vowed to fight against hunger and injustice. Qualified as a lawyer he went on to complete his doctoral studies on education. Soon after the military coup in 1964 Freire was jailed for seventy five days for his subversive educational activities. It was in exile that he came to be known as a radical
Read more

Swelling Is not Growth

Image
Of late I have become apprehensive of statements such as "India is competing the rest of the world" in terms of economy. A couple of days back I happend to be in a city super mall, here in Nashik. It is certainly one of the richest commercial centres I have ever visited. On my way back I did observe our citizens carrying logs on their heads, children roaming the streets in tattered clothes. Something struck me hard as I gave thought to popular saying of the day "India shines." Can we call India a growing country or a swelling country? Does this sound funny, perhaps yes. Growth is intergral development and never scattered development. What we see in India is the accumulation of riches by a few and an existential struggle for survival by the majority. We never call "swelling as a growth." It is not even a symptom of growth. Rather it is a sign of  maladies. In the name of industrialization and modernization today the indigenous people in many parts of the s
Read more