Social media has been criticised for advocating fake, unattainable, and unrealistic beauty standards, especially by influencers, models, celebrities, and lifestyle bloggers. Being “skinny” is termed as beautiful, hot, and healthy while being slightly chubby is subject to being ridiculed and shamed in the comment section. The “filter life” and “gora complex”, however, take the cake. With social media platforms being heavily used for their skin smoothening and lightening filters, users hide their “flaws” to present and attain unrealistic beauty, making many others feel worse about themselves.
Now, we slowly see trends change. A few Pakistani celebrities have been vocal about embracing their skin with all its “flaws” and we can’t help but salute them for trying to change the narrative.
The beginning of a movement
About 4 days ago, Palwasha Yousuf uploaded a picture of her sister Syra Yousuf post-makeover for Syra’s recent appearance in a music video. The picture was unfiltered and showed Syra’s unprocessed skin; textured and real. Just moments after the picture was posted, netizens stood divided with their comments. Some praised the sisters for showing “real skin” while the internet bullies came out guns blazing.
However, Syra then took to her Instagram stories and posted a selfie, announcing that she loves her skin, with the hashtag “#nofilter”.
Palwasha was also criticised for what netizens thought were subpar makeup skills. The makeup artist then took to her Instagram stories and started a trend with the hashtag “#EmbraceYourSkin” to challenge all women to own their skin.
Following the Yousuf sisters was actress Minal Khan. Just yesterday, Minal posted an unprocessed and makeup-free picture of herself on her official Instagram account, complaining about how summer’s here and so are her best-friends – pimples! Yes, that’s true. Summer and pimples go hand-in-hand for many of us, just as they do for Minal. But the actress felt no shame in showing that to the social media world and was showered with love and appreciation by her celebrity friends as well as her fans.
Now, does it make sense to preach about owning your skin and complexion while using a beauty filter? Not really. But apparently, it does to Hania Aamir. The actress put up an extensive story on her Instagram account, talking about how we need to start talking about the unnatural standards of beauty and the “gora complex” – all while using a beauty filter.
She started by mentioning an incident where she was colour-shamed; a friend of hers told Hania that she needs a tan. Hania expressed her frustration regarding the local mindset, saying, “gori hai tou chitti hai, dark complexion hai tou gori kyun nai ho jati?”
She then added, “I think it’s high time we start having these conversations because… kab tak hum insecure hon ge because of the way we look?” She continued her sermon, saying that we need to own our skin tones, that we don’t have to wear foundation that is two tones darker than our actual skin tone to look tan, or two shades lighter to look fair, and added, “ye bohat he buray beauty standards hain.” Reminder: all of this was being said while using a skin smoothening and lightening beauty filter. Oh, the irony!
Hania also talked about how we have a responsibility to the future generations so that they don’t go through what the current and previous generations have regarding colourism and other unrealistic standards of beauty. Now here’s the problem. While everything she tried to get across to the audience was absolutely correct, the fact that she used a beauty filter just defeated the purpose. There was a filter on her face throughout the video; one that made her cheeks look pink, her lips plump, gave her flawless lashes, as well as higher cheekbones. It’s high time we start practicing what we preach or else we’re just hypocrites, which is exactly what netizens had to say about her little speech.
But that’s not all. Just a few hours ago, Sanam Saeed jumped on the bandwagon with a hilarious take on the situation and posted a story on her Instagram account using a beauty filter that exaggerated her lips and under-eyes, and she wrote, “ eew to these beauty standards”
Seeing prominent people of our country speak up about deep-rooted societal issues gives us hope that we, as a nation, are moving in the right direction, trying to bring a positive change in the mindset of our people. We’re in the 21st century! It’s time we accept who we are; that the majority of South Asian’s including Pakistani’s, is brown and not white, that skin is textured and having flawlessly smooth skin may be a blessing to some but not a standard for everyone to match. It’s time we embrace who we are and our celebrities are surely steering the ship in the right direction.
We would also like to add a fact that hardly any dermatologist will tell you – if you have open pores, nothing in this world will change that. It’s genetic and all you can do is minimise your pores, not eradicate them.
