Sania Mirza has protested against ‘beauty standards’ set by the society and has called for them to be redone.
Sharing an advertisement of a personal care brand which highlights false beauty standards set by society for women and how women are tested on the basis of those standards at the time of marriage, the tennis star said: “At 8 years of age, I heard people tell my parents ‘Don’t let her play out in the sun if she gets dark who will marry her’.”
“How I wish I could go back in time and show this film then and ask aakhir kitni khoobsurati kaafi hain?,” she questioned.
Mirza continued: “I am glad I stepped out in the sun because it made me who I am. The tan lines, the biceps, not meeting societal beauty standards, it was totally worth it.”
The Indian tennis champion urged people to speak up against false beauty standards saying: “As a daughter of this country, I urge each one of us – parents, brothers, daughters, future-in-laws, to speak up and step up.”
Mirza also shared the advertisement on her Twitter handle also with the caption: “Wish I had this film to show those who told me I wouldn’t find a husband if I got dark playing in the sun. Glad I have it now.”
Earlier, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas has also said that she regretted promoting skin-whitening creams.
Speaking to Marie Claire, Chopra-Jonas had said: [Skin lightening] was so normalized in South Asia; it’s such a large industry that everyone was doing it. In fact, doing it is still a check [mark] when you are a female actor, but it’s awful.”
“And it was awful for me, for a little girl who used to put talcum-powder cream on my face because I believed that dark skin was not pretty,” she said, adding that she hated being described as “dusky” by industry influencers and the media.
