THE OBSESSION WITH WOMEN'S BODIES

 

    Women’s bodies have been an authentic source of objectification for men, for a very long time. Even if a woman is being praised, most men put women on a pedestal based on their physical attributes. If we think about the negative aspect, women are pulled down keeping in mind these very physical attributes which are supposedly the elements of “beauty” and worth defining them. Considering the various kinds of revenge moves made against women like acid attacks, sexual assault or verbal slut-shaming brings to our notice the obsession of patriarchy with women’s bodies. These are all brutal ways of demolishing a woman’s core edifice of confidence with superficial standards of physicality.

    These incidents are extremely tough for any person to get over, so falling prey to society’s conformist ideals shouldn’t come as a shock. However, even when women choose to move on from their past and continue to live proudly despite their hardships, they need to pay the price for trying to forget their supposed stained position in society. For instance, with a woman’s stereotypically unattractive looks after an acid attack or after an infamous case of brutal sexual assault, the majority of people have more negative things to utter than praising the woman for her strong sense of perseverance towards life. There are also people who have mere outward sympathy to express but no true emotion within.

    The size of a woman's body is also something of much concern. Our society has made it evident by the way women are treated accordingly. The point is that there is an issue with everything that a woman does and is. Be it someone thick or skinny or sizes in between and beyond, women have been subject to body shaming nevertheless. It is extremely upsetting that women are reduced merely to their body sizes. If not in all cases, most of the time a woman's physicality could change her course of events in life, which is really unfortunate. 

    Men's hypocrisy shows itself clearly when they go about shaming women who are into makeup, without taking into account a simple thing called "free will". Paradoxically, if a woman likes to be bare-faced, or let's take the example of women who totally embrace their flaws or a beauty standard that the patriarchal society can find intimidating, they are called out for their vulgarity and made fun of constantly. A woman can feel confident with or without her makeup on, no second person should have the audacity to comment on that.

    Apart from these, a woman's class, ethnicity, caste, skin colour and so on can be firm grounds on which she is judged.

    

    Though a lot of feminist voices are coming to the front row, reaching the state of gender equality is a faraway utopia. However, due to the awakening of the general public against misogynistic standards, individuals who still stand by their coercive, backward mentality seem to be going dormant on the surface level. Sadly, the misogyny prevalent in society has discovered a different and perhaps more efficient way of stirring its relevance, i.e., through the internet. The internet might seem like a blessing to most of us but in these contemporary times, it is more parasitic, actually. It has a great number of uses but at the same time, has the potential to adversely affect people’s lives.

    Women have been a vulnerable target amidst all the controversies. Cyberbullying through the modes of cyberstalking, trolling, photo morphing and so on are different ways of harassing a woman. The worst part is that the perpetrators’ identities are mostly hidden, thus, getting away with their crimes becomes quite easy. It is important for us to know that a virtual mode of harassment is just as dangerous as a physical one. Whatever the way, targeting women’s bodies is the common idea behind their rotten motives.

    A lot of not-so-offensive meme pages seem to target women as an element of fun and mockery, by referring to certain pop culture references, mostly adhering to the physicality of women. If we talk about extreme cases, revenge can be executed by photo morphing the victim’s pictures on the naked bodies of others. Either this or posting pictures/videos of their former lovers who might've consented to be filmed, while sending these on the sole basis of trust. The whole point is that whether or not the photos/videos are sent with one's consent, it doesn’t have anything to do with the perpetrator’s own fantasy of having ends met.

    The larger question is why should a woman’s life get ruined, or the fact that she has to stay away from the public eye after the incident. Our society looks at such victimization as a crime of some sort. But what exactly? It has everything to do with this crazy obsession with their bodies. Is she merely an object of appeal with no free will?... A woman’s naked body has indeed become a souvenir of misogyny. Our society, despite knowing how she has been a victim, shames her throughout, resulting in a social boycott, unemployment or highly reduced prospects for marriage.

    This obsession also brings in the idea of chastity associated with it. Especially in conservative countries like India, a woman’s body is a symbol of honour and integrity, more for the patriarchal family she comes from than her own identity. The conventions are pretty much different for a man, sadly.

    It is not to say that men haven’t been a subject of victimization or to trivialize their traumatic experiences, but to expose society’s obsession with women’s bodies as a tool of pride or revenge.

 

Written by:

Sikta Tarangini,

(Content Head, PLNC).