Gender & Fashion

Unjust defining of Body Image and Standard Aesthetics

In this essay I will discuss gender discrimination in Fashion, in terms of unequal treatment in body image, clothing ideals and overall aesthetics. No matter where you are in the world, women on magazines, film posters, TV advertisements and any other media accessible to a mass population, are always portrayed to have the most ideal and perfect bodily aesthetic, as compared to the men. Now you would think, that it’s not such a bad thing because the meaning of the term “ideal” might differ from place to place. Well, think again. Despite of having vast racial and ethnic differences, the body image ideals for most women throughout the world are the same, as if it’s some kind of a social norm (Hungrige A, 2008). In ancient times, men and women wore the same tunics and cloaks and the only significant difference in their garments was the length, which was lesser for men as it was better suited for exercise (Ozuem W, Azemi Y, 2017). Clothes were initially only used to protect the wearer from natural elements and they later became associated with modesty and shame (Ozuem W, Azemi Y, 2017). Now, women are constantly made to think more about their bodily aesthetics as compared to men, and this tends to have huge repercussions on the overall mental and physical health of women throughout the world (Hungrige A, 2008).

Figure 1: Maxim India (Sept 2017) , Vol. 12, Issue 7

Women spend more hours of their lives to achieve their ideal appearance as compared to men. Body dissatisfaction and importance of appearance are much higher in women than in men (Quittkat H, Hartmann A, Dusing R, Buhlmann U and Vocks S, 2019). Now why is that? Let’s take the Fig. 1 for example. This is the Maxim India Back Issue for September 2017. The cover features a very famous Bollywood actor named Ranveer Singh and a supermodel/influencer/ actress named Elena Fernandes. Now, there are a lot of points that I would like to highlight from this magazine cover that would make my topic more clear but, the most important thing that I want to highlight is the BOLD sub heading. It says, “Being Ranveer”. It’s almost as if the magazine is trying to highlight that in order to be “Ranveer”, you need to have a hot and sexy sparsely dressed women by your side. Here, the women is literally being used as an accessory to emphasise on his looks and his confidence. As if a man’s success and his good looks can only be corroborated with a half naked woman by his side. Now, let’s talk about the portrayal of the man and woman on this cover. It must be kept in mind that this magazine was intended for an Indian audience. The man on this cover is wearing an exquisite, and by the looks of it an expensive black checkered three piece suit with a striped tie, a suit pin and black formal shoes. His moustache and beard seem to be properly trimmed, and his hair is set back giving him a very clean and business like look. He has his hands in his pocket, and his posture is very confident and strong. His entire demeanour is very polished and sophisticated. He has a very strong and straight gaze, almost as if he is looking right at you. He is ‘demanding’ attention from the viewer, making himself known (Kress G, 2010) . He is not even gazing at the sparsely dressed woman who is sitting beside him, nor is he touching her. He is portrayed as such, that he doesn’t need to seek any woman out, the women seek him out presumably because of his success, confidence and looks. It’s surely not just about his bodily aesthetics in this image. The magazines that are targeted for woman or are about woman, usually seem to have more content that relates to beauty, makeup, weight loss, fitness and health, as compared to mens’ magazines which could be about technology, business, sports, politics and other such ‘mindly’ issues (Hungrige A, 2008). In order to highlight this point even more, we can now focus on the woman in this magazine cover. The woman is wearing a black bralette and a black high waist slit skirt with black pencil heels. Her clothes are such, that they are meant to highlight her body, making her look desirable. The bralette is highlighting her bosom, and she is sitting in such a way that the high slit skirt is highlighting her long skinny legs. The woman is sitting on a chair that is angled away from the camera, so that we only have a side view of her face. Her body is angled a bit more towards the viewer, almost as if to give a better look at it. She has her hand lightly placed on her thigh, and her posture is such that it is enticing to look at. There is not much jewellery on her neck and only a small part of her hair in taken in the front, so as to not hide her bosom. Expressions on her face cannot be made out properly, as only a side of her face is seen. This is purposely done because her body is the focus of this cover, and not her face or her expressions (Hungrige A, 2008). Now let’s take into consideration the different body image ideals that have been put forth through this image, while keeping in mind that this particular magazine is created keeping an Indian audience in mind. The skinny models and the unrealistic

body image ideals that are presented by the media, have a mis-match with the actual ideal body of the viewer. This constant body image dissatisfaction leads to anxiety and low self-esteem (David P, Morrison G, Johnson M, Ross F, 2002). Angela Hungrige argues that , “Despite the growing knowledge of what is healthy, the media continue to bring forth damaging portrayals of never being skinny enough or muscular enough to be considered attractive.” (Hungrige A, 2008: 1). In Fig. 1, the portrayal of the man isn’t quite contradictory to how an average Indian male would look like. He is of an average height and built, and the only attribute of his that will take efforts to achieve, is getting the kind of money that would be required to buy that suit and a little extra to make a visit to the barber shop. The Suit is one of the most enduring items in menswear, and it has survived as an item of everyday, formal and party wear almost everywhere in the world for decades now (Breward C, 2016). On the other hand, the portrayal of the women is quite contradictory to an average Indian female body. It has been largely discussed that due to the immense exposure to the western media, women in India are facing a growing concern regarding their body and physical appearance (Kapadia M, 2009). An average woman in India is no more than 5’5”, has a heavier lower body and bigger boobs. Indian women tend to have a more pear shaped figure. The woman who is portrayed on the magazine cover is quite tall, and has skinny long legs that definitely don’t match the average pear shaped figure of an Indian female. Such kind of media portrayals lead women wanting to achieve a more and more skinnier body. Manisha argues, “It is alarming that in the past several decades, The ideal body shape for women appears to have been growing thinner, the point of potentially becoming pathological” (Kapadia M, 2009:1). The media continue to put focus on physical attributes and aesthetics which constantly lead to the objectification of women worldwide. It is noted that women experience a lot more body dissatisfaction which leads to psychological issues and eating disorders, as compared to men. All mass media, primarily womens’ magazines tend to be promoters and advertisers of an impractical and a dangerously thin body ideal (Hungrige A, 2008). India being a country that has a huge western influence in everything from clothes to cinema, the skinny body image ideal is also not of their own. Racial discrimination tends to have a huge contribution when it comes to the definition of an ideal body image throughout the world. As they call it, “The West” has always been considered more superior in everything from business practices to political leaders, emergence of new fashion trends, fabric production, technological advancements and so on. It’s no wonder that the ideal body image for women all around the world, is a portrayal of a skinny white girl. All body types other than the ones resembling this, are considered non-ideal, thus putting a lot of pressure on women everywhere in having to achieve a skinny body. Skinny, not healthy. Slowly but steadily things are definitely changing. The media has become a lot more progressive and sensitive towards their portrayals. A lot more acceptance towards plus size models can be seen, as a lot of brands are preferring them for their ad campaigns, and are also changing their

sizing guides to have more variable sizes. The websites that calculate and create ideal weight and body fat charts have actually reformed their sites in order to include and consider the race and ethnicity of the user. But do you think all of this change is positive, or even enough? Nowadays, men are also being pulled in this cyclone of self doubt and body dissatisfaction by the constant portrayal of extremely muscular and well built men on magazine covers, advertisements and even movies. We are heading towards a world where we need to be more accepting and rewarding, of ourselves and of others. This virus has made us concentrate more on our health, wellbeing and peace, and being healthy and happy with your body is all that matters. Perhaps that could be the new ideal.

References:

Breward C (2009) , The Suit: Form, Function and Style. London: Reaktion Books, Limited

David P, Morrison G, Johnson M, Ross F (2002) , Body Image, Race , and Fashion Models: Social Distance and Social Identi"cation in !ird-Person E#ects, Vol. 29, Issue 3, pp. 270-294

Hungrige A (2008) , Unequal Treatment: !e di#erences of body image advertisements containing food and supplements in fashion magazines for men and women. [MA Arts] !e University of Houston Clear Lake. At: https://search-proquest-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/ docview/304829592?accountid=14178&pq-origsite=summon (Accessed 27/11/2020)

Kapadia M (2009) , Body Image In Indian Women As In$uenced By !e Indian Media. [Doctor Of Philosophy] Texas Woman’s University: College of Arts and Sciences. At: https:// search.proquest.com/openview/96e816615e68eeb891bf4445bb50aa4b/1?pq-origsite=gschol-ar& cbl=18750&diss=y (Accessed 05/12/2020)

Kress G (2010) , Multimodality : a social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. UK, USA, Canada: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Ozuem W, Azemi Y (2017), Digital Marketing Strategies for Fashion and Luxury Brands. United States of America: IGI Global

Quittkat H, Hartmann A, Dusing R, Buhlmann U and Vocks S (2019) , ‘Body Dissatisfaction, Importance of Appearance, and Body Appreciation in Men and Women Over the Lifespan’ In: Psychosomatic Medicine, Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10:864 . At: https://www.frontiersin.org/arti-cles/ 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00864/full (Accessed 04/12/2020)