Imagine two islands. Imagine the ocean stretched wide between them. Women get to inhabit either of the two islands: ‘Beautiful’ or ‘Ugly’. Residents of the latter must spend their whole lives trying to make it to the 🔴former. Keep trying, or fall from grace. No in-between in sight. This is not speculative fiction. Women of all ages live under the cloud of this constructed binary in real life. Those who don’t fit into the ‘beautiful’ slot are bombarded with reminders—and threats of varying degrees—from cosmetic companies, the beauty industry, wellness clinics; film, television and social media; family, neighbours, perfect strang꧒ers you bump into on your commute to college or work. Everyone has tips to offer to ferry you to destination ‘beautiful’.
“Beautiful ugly, pure impure—binaries are just words,” says Paridhi Gupta, Guest Professor in Gender Studies at Ambedka🅘r University, Delhi. “We pit them against each other. The important question to ask is: who does this serve?” The capitalist enterprise to sell more products profits from it. Patriarchy capitalises on it, fuelling women’s insecurities. Morality is embedded in the binary. A chain of commands stacked on its back: a ‘beautiful’ woman has to dress modestly, tread softly, tan very little, or not at all. By this count, a plump, opiniated woman with frizzy hair is labelled not feminine enough and ‘ugly’. “The idea that a woman’s primary aim is to look beautiful has been perpetuated for ages,” says Gupta. “The woman’s body is to be presented as an untouched canvas. Artists from the time of Raja Ravi Varma have been at it🧸. Vicco Turmeric and Fair & Lovely have been selling dreams of fair skin to Indian women for decades.”
The beauty ideal for women in Asian countries has included markers such as fair skin, flawless features, tall, slender frame and long hair. India’s obsession with fair skin and whitening products is well𒈔-documented. Skin colour is linked to a woman’s desirability; her social standing (position in the caste hierarchy); and purity (white equated with virginal).
“Looking beautiful is made out to be a testimony to the kind of woman you are. But what is beautiful enough or perfect enough?”
“The measures of beauty in our society are problematic,” says Gogu Shyamala, Andhra Pradesh-based Dalit writer and activist. She quotes a poem written by a Dalit woman which celebrates her dark skin, calling it as beautiful as the dusky Earth. When Shyamala was a young girl, her mother and grandmother used to tell her that pimples were natural. Acne wasn’t treated as a catastrophe in her social milieu. “Why should I fit into someone else’s narrow framework of beauty? Who gets to say my nose is ugly or that I’m not tall enough?” asks Shyamala. “The market and dominant ideology set these definitions. There is so much pressure on women to fit into them.” Western beauty ideals dominate countries across the world, but in India, the colonial influence and casteism play a major role in setting beauty standards. “We are flooded with Hollywood movies and music,” says Samata Biswas, Assistant Professor of English, Sanskrit College and University, Kolkata. “The cultural space is dominated by the West and that may make I𝄹ndians want to aspire for global beauty ideals, but the colonial hangover is still strong. Many Indians travel to Arab countries, but you don’t see anyone scrambling to meet their benchmarks!”
The beautiful ugly binary for Indian women is reinforced through any number of mediums. It lurks, either in the open, or as an undercurrent. A Class 12 textbook published by the Maharashtra State Education Board was in the news not so long ago because it declared: “if a girl is ugly and handicapped, it becomes very difficult for her to get married.” A Class 12 textbook in Rajasthan listed ‘tallness’ and ‘a flawless complexion’ as important qualities for yoﷺung entrepreneurs. “Four out of ten youngsters (in the 15-25 age bracket) worry about their looks because of our culture of non-acceptance,” says Dr Jitendra Nagpal, senior psychiatrist at Moolchand Hospital. “This can create components of anxiety, mood swings, depression.” While both women and men are judged for their looks, the pressure on women to meet beauty standards is crushing. They are expected to look young and flawless. To be blemish-free, fat-free. To fight ageing, to turn back time. Need help? Spend your mental energy and bank balance on cosmetics, skin clinics, aesthetic centres, plastic surgeons. The quest for beauty is a continuum—no matter how young or how old a woman may be.
“The binary parameter inflicts severe harm,” ꦐsays Dr Nagpal. Many women are exhausted by the battle to meet the normative benchmark. “Some use products or cosmetic procedures without the supervision of qualified professionals,” he warns. “And then there are the psychological repercussions—non-acceptance of the self, psychosomatic disorders, attempts to self-harm in severe cases.” Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a clinical condition that stems from extreme anxiety about a person’s perceived physical defects. In India, a larger number of women suffer from BDD than men. “We need to move past society’s shallow expectations of beauty,” says Dr Nagpal. “The emphasis should be on cultivating good life skills and creative thinking, and on building connections with the world.”
Some publ𝔍ic figures have refused to normalise the ‘beautiful ugly’ binary. Actress Nandita Das, a supporter of the ‘Dark is Beautiful Campaign’, has been consistently vocal about the damage it does to women’s self-esteem. Speaking to a news agency, she had pointed out that advertisements for fairness products in India paint doomsday scenarios for dark-skinned women. She called their messaging ‘dangerous’. A few years ago, it was reported that South Indian actress Sai Pallavi rejected a two-crore advertisement deal with a fairness cream brand. Pallavi explained her decision by saying that “this is Indian skin colour” and that it is beautiful.
In the globalised, post-feminist world, the beauty industry hasn’t remained tone-deaf. No one can accuse it of skimping on the jargon of empowerment. Cosmetics and cosmetic procedures are advertised as means to help women feel good about themselves. The term skin ‘whitening’ is out, ‘lightening’ is in. Look good to feel good is the new mantra. “Sounds empowering all right,” says Biswas. “But what it’s actually doing is setting up another binary. For a woman, caring for herself is equated with being well-groomed or ‘ageing gracefully’. You’re not advised to read books or participate in political or social movements. The only mission that matters is to look good. If that’s a success, you’ve made it. If not, you’ve failed as⛄ a✅ person.”
Many social media influencers hold se𒁏ssions about how to get Korean glass ski♔n or build the perfect bikini body. They talk about the dream waist, the perfect pout, the ideal thigh gap. The terms they use may be new-age and snazzy, but the quest stays the age-old one. New trends and concepts come and go. “But beauty ideals and standards are set for women,” says Biswas. “And these standards keep shifting. Women’s bodies are scrutinised, body shaming goes on.” The digital world is caught up in the ‘beautiful ugly’ binary, too. Terms on TikTok such as ‘ugly pretty’—referring to women who are not conventionally pretty but could be called attractive—just package it differently. “Looking beautiful is made out to be a testimony to the kind of person you are,” says Biswas. “But what is beautiful enough or perfect enough? Where do you draw the line?”
This article is a part of Outlook's March 1, 2025 issue 'The Grid', which explored the concept of binaries. It appeared in print as 'The Ugly Myth'.
