By Choo-Bacca (Guest Blogger)

Depression. We’ve all been through it; we all know how it hits and the outcome of it. It leaves mental scars, drains us dry emotionally, and for some people it leaves physical scars. Yet, we let ourselves get carried away with celebrities, forgetting that they too are human. We allow the media and people to indulge in the lives of celebs because “they asked for this lifestyle, they asked to be in the limelight.”   

“Parineeti Chopra’s new campaign should not be celebrating her body.”

I fail to understand how one attacks a woman’s body and tells her how she should or should not display it. We have been growing with and towards ideas of feminism but not accepting them as a whole. In most cases the media is of no help at all. Instead of celebrating all types of bodies, we shame women who work out, exercise to be fit.  We tell people that:   

“Parineeti Chopra might love her new body, but what she fails to realize is that by celebrating it in this way, with these messages emblazoned on her pictures for the world to see, she harms others’ perceptions of their own body. “

Either way it is not your business to be discussing a person’s body especially when they are celebrating being healthy.

“Gigi Hadid is too curvy to be a model.”  

I cannot reiterate enough that fat shaming is not good. You cannot point at a person and tell them how their body should look like. Maybe that person eats healthier and exercises more than you do. Every body is different. I’ve heard conversations where, when a woman was exercising and eating healthy food, one of her friends would keep telling her how anorexic she looked. The same person would tell their other friend that she is so fat because she eats everything in the house. This person is a staunch ‘feminist’. No. Just stop. Selena Gomez was under fire for the same thing, and it led to her feeling depressed. Yes, they might be in the limelight but stop scrutinizing every picture just because you can.

“Kendall Jenner isn’t model worthy because she has a privileged upbringing.”

Sorry, I completely missed the memo for being a tool but are you freaking kidding me? So basically what people are asking others is to forget her hard work. Forget that she almost had a meltdown by the end of last year because she was on so many assignments. One cannot merely say that she does not deserve to be a model simply because of her family. Is that how we define people? Forget who they are at present and delve into their backgrounds?

“Deepika Padukone called for it by showing her cleavage. She’s only sticking up for herself because she wants to promote her movie.”

Deepika Padukone was one of the few women to stick up for herself when Times of India thought it was commendable to comment on her cleavage, and, rather than apologizing, to write another horribly inept article on the ordeal. Was that article necessary? How did we as readers allow a nebulous machination such as that to occur? As much as putting everything under a microscope and sifting through what we should or should not believe, we need to understand that every action by us has an impact. You may think it is one comment; but every one of those comments describes the mindset of a person. It gives them the liberty to tell you what you should wear; or what your body is like. Stop allowing people to do that, and stop doing that to others.

Picture Courtesy:

Parineeta Chopra “Built That Way”, YRK TALENT

Gigi Hadid for Tommy Hilfiger via Vogue.com

Gigi Hadid in Nili Lotan sweater and skirt via vogue.com

Kendal Jenner via harpersbazaar.com

Kendal Jenner via harpersbazaar.com

Deepika Padukone for Van Heusen