Why girls should be flat-bellied to be married? Why not men?
“Exercise kiya kroo, moti ladki se kaun shaadi karega?” – That’s every mom’s advice, to her daughter, rendered with an intention to get her married without any sort of rejection. Women’s physical beauty has always been considered as a major factor for marriage. And, many loving, sweet and kind women, who are epitomes of inner beauty, are overlooked just because they don’t fit into men’s rigid standards of beauty. “Who asked you to talk? Don’t speak so loudly! Don’t laugh so loudly! Don’t draw other’s attention! Sit like a girl! Dress like a girl! Behave like a girl! Blah! Blah! Blah!” When will people stop these domineering commands directed towards women? In the midst of these multifarious regulations to be followed by a woman to be eligible for a marriage, there is one ridiculous rule of being flat-bellied. “Yuck! How fat she is! I want a slim beauty to be my wife”, that’s how men react when his prospective wife is obese. But if a boy has a paunch, they can easily convince a girl claiming that her prospective husband is “just healthy and not fat”. His pot-belly never matters. Why women are always forced to face these double standards?
A research claims that the discrimination faced by obese people, especially women, is mainly due to the misinterpretation of the masses that obesity is optional. Neither, fat women opt to be so nor do they lack self-control over their eating habits. However, “fat women experience both the stigma of unattractiveness and the stigma that they lack control”, writes researcher Christine A. Smith. He adds, “If people are, say, unattractive due to a facial deformity, there tends to be a sympathy factor” and that leads to the discrimination process. Not just in the case of marriage, sometimes this prejudiced attitude exhibits itself even in the work place. An article in The New York Times reveals how a woman who had “a wonderful resume and years of experience” was preferred by her prospective employers after judging her on the basis of her resume. But when they called her for the interview and saw her physique, they found lame reasons to reject her. On the other hand, divorce rates are on the rise these days. One of the many reasons for this is the problem of having a portly spouse. Is being stout really an ignominious thing? “No”, I feel and any humane person would feel the same. I would like to suggest to the patriarchal society, which prescribes flat belly, size zero, thigh gap, and all other nonsensical standards for women to better change their perspectives. If you look for women with a flat belly first check out yours. Because, “Real men go for curves, only dogs go for bones”. And to all those girls who think they are plump, “Women aren’t meant to entice men, instead men are meant to respect women”.
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About the Author: This article is contributed by Swati Agrawal, our intern.
