There's a silent epidemic that has long plagued women around the world-- the relentless obsession with physical appearance, particularly weight. This fixation is not merely an internal discourse that women have while standing in front of a mirror but rather permeates into their everyday lives, be it choices in clothing, diet, or even day-to-day conversations. In the latest episode of The Rulebreaker Show, content creator Sakshi Sindwani delved into this perennial dialogue around body image and weight, reflecting on how this obsession with physical appearance governs women's psychology right from a young age, festering unhealthy self-image throughout their lives.
In conversation with Shaili Chopra, founder of SheThePeople and Gytree, Sakshi Sindwani candidly spoke up about her relationship with her body image, delving into the self-imposed compulsion in order to appear faultless to feel worthy of love and respect. The unabashed rulebreaker discussed how she broke out of this toxic mindset to find her boundless self-worth.
Sakshi Sindwani's Relationship With Body Image
As a content creator, being in the public eye comes at the price of enduring negative feedback, trolling, or comparison. In the world of social media, a person is rarely perceived beyond their physical appearance. Especially in the case of women whose body type or skin does not fit conventional 'standards', their appearance is believed to be an extension of their content.
Influencer Sakshi Sindwani too faces this expectation of speaking about body positivity and embracing physical appearance in her fashion content, even when it's not necessary. In her appearance on The Rulebreaker Show, Sindwani spoke about why this conversation around weight and body image is so omnipresent.
She said that women's obsession with physical appearance is rooted in "how we have been brought up, the world's beauty standards, and the patriarchy." Sindwani said, "When we women were just about 16 years old, we used to get slut shamed. So we're constantly conscious about our body."
Body Image & Self-Image: How Women's Minds Are Conditioned
Sakshi Sindwani believes that women's mentality about physical appearance is not just limited to meeting the beauty standards but it also ingrains insecurities about self-worth and perpetuates harmful psychological cycles. "We women think that if we're not perfect then people will not be attracted to us," she pointed out.
Sindwani added how this kind of belief also conditions women to seek validation from external sources, usually in romantic relationships. She narrated how women believe that not looking a certain kind of way would not allow us the kind of attraction and affection we seek. This further culminates in the perception of finding a person to fill a self-created void.
"I don't know why women feel like they're insufficient if they have brains and not beauty. They're constantly fixated on the fact that 'I have to be the most perfect version of myself, otherwise I'm nothing'."
Sindwani aptly decoded the vicious loop of women made to feel unworthy of attraction, finding external sources of validation, and ultimately feeling unfulfilled again. Passionate about unlinking this chain, she said that this happens because women have not had the chance to address their own internal conflicts of accepting their body in all its virtues and flaws.
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