A new Chapter

Beauty stereotyping – we’ve all fought it or succumbed to it. Very few women have been spared the horror of meeting the ideals of beauty dictated by the world. But change must start from within, be it in the way we see ourselves or others. It’s time to acknowledge that ‘beauty’ cannot be defined by or limited to certain characteristics. With Dove’s #StopTheBeautyTest, we’re urging you to take the onus on yourself. Celebrate your beauty and that of others around you. Grow from your struggles, grow with those of others as you uplift them. And, while you’re at it, take inspiration from these strong women who went from being books judged by their covers to changing the narrative themselves

- KALWYNA RATHOD

PRIYA MALIK

ARTIST

When the feisty Priya Malik recites one of her intense poems, you shut up and listen. But how was it for her having to listen to prejudiced comments about her looks and being subjected to comparisons using so-called beauty ideals as the standard? She says, “I’ve lived in a joint family, and I think it all starts at home – you start getting compared to others, your height is measured, your hair, skin colour, facial features are compared. I was always told my nose is too big, my eyes are too small, and that, though my skin colour is fair, my features are not sharp. What happens next is you start internalising all you hear, so, when you look at yourself in the mirror, especially when you’re growing up, you start believing those things. And it took me a long time to accept myself as who I am!”

Speaking further about how the stereotyping affected her self-esteem, Malik says, “In the ’90s, when I was growing up, the media was very white-washed, so you only saw a particular kind of beauty being promoted in mainstream literature and films. So, I began to compare myself with what I saw and with other teenage girls around me. It was also a time when the beauty pageant industry grew, and I remember this funny incident – my mom had told me that a girl’s height stops increasing once she starts menstruating, so, when I got my first period in school, I was crying out loud to my friends and my teacher saying I could never become Miss Universe now because you have to be 5′7′ for that and I was 5′2′.”