TRUE BEAUTY COMES FROM WITHIN
“YOU ARE NOT GORGEOUS - IF YOU ARE NOT BEAUTIFUL” BY UJJWAL MALIK

Societal pressures exist all around us especially in the form of mass media and social media. This has increased the scope for exploitation, in particular by the firms of the fashion industry in influencing people to make inappropriate decisions. I believe that there exists an ardent desire and a simultaneous pressure on individuals so as to undertake thoroughgoing measures such as undergoing cosmetic surgery or extreme dieting. The fervent aspiration to stay combative and zealous in the workforce or merely better their appearance so as to feel good about themselves and look appealing to their companion leads to an upsurge in actions which trigger this ongoing cultural phenomena.
Selfie had been titled “Word of the year 2013” as its usage had incremented up to 17000 percent in that very year. The contemporary superficial world where people become self-critical of their appearances on social platforms is the major reason behind such a phenomena. Most of the content uploaded on the social platforms is image based content, thereby literally compelling individuals to embrace a magnifying glass up to the image of their own and gaze at them with an extremely self-condemning eye. According to a recently conducted study, it was observed that 33.33% physicians in the plastic surgery industry noticed an escalation in those patients who wanted facial surgeries so as to manifest a superior social outlook, particularly online (American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2014). As enlightened by the AAFPRS President, generally the initial portrayal of the image of young folks is reliant on their self-portraits on such media, where they want to put their best face forward. It becomes more of a necessity than a desire to convey the foremost impression, which leads to the rise in cosmetic surgeries. A 10 percent increment was recorded in the annual year of 2012 in nose surgeries. A substantial upsurge in surgeries of the eyelid was also noted.
The process of airbrushing the models coupled with the overwhelming effects possessed by Photoshop brings about a complete evolution and plays a crucial role in making people magnetized to the various constructive cosmetic anaplasties. The lion’s share of the advertisements tend to promote products that guarantee an almost effortless technique to aid in achieving model like characteristics. In the “Next” monthly publication, there were a record 73 percent advertisements catering to beauty and weight-reducing merchandises. These call attention to a supermodel exhibiting the body structure and outline with utmost flawlessness, which tend to propagate apprehensions amongst females who do not match up to the ideal standards. This invokes self-reproach within them and kindles fears regarding future repercussions if they continue to eat in an unconstrained manner. These individuals become easy prey for these cosmetic and slimming firms, and to their products such as the mysterious diet pills. As per the study conducted by HEDA over a thousand women, 70 percent of them wanted to reduce weight, in spite of the fact that 82 percent were not even overweight. Due to such a scenario, cases of bulimia have augmented to a 1000 percent within the past 36 months.
Whilst it may be argued that this yearning to undergo excessive dieting and cosmetic surgery is only a modern manifestation of our age old desire to augment our beauty, it is important to note that we are only pursuing cosmetic surgery because we as a society are trying to attain the ideal body type which has been portrayed by the media. Such a body type is not achievable without superficial cosmetic surgery, thus urging individuals to undergo constructive medical treatments. Hence we can deduce that it is advertising and social media which force us to through such procedures. An example for this is the infatuation to attain the thigh gap, which is now considered as an important virtue of beauty among women aged 20 to 33. These women undergo extreme dieting or even reconstructive surgeries in order to obtain the gap. This obsession has been condemned as an abnormal and unattainable objective, and also seen as a root cause of adverse eating conditions.
The predominance of social networks coupled with the photo shopped advertisements of the models negatively affects the lifestyle of several individuals and the self-image they carry of themselves. Nowadays, it has become very challenging so as to come to an agreement on what establishes a "standard" appearance. Changing it is a controversial agenda which at times leads to psychopathological behavior. Though these definitely lead to augmentation of our appearances for a short time period, their high costs and the risks in the longer run shall be evaluated carefully. To ameliorate the physique, daily exercise and intake of a balanced diet are essential. The real fact is that true beauty comes from within i.e. it is how we are on the inside what matters and not how we are on the exterior. “No beauty shines brighter than a good heart”.