Vineeta Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Sugar Cosmetics, who also featured as a shark on Shark Tank India 2021, recently revealed how people reduce her to her appearance, while almost forgetting about her achievements on social media.
In an interview, Singh talked about how important appearance and looks are made to be, for women. She added, “ I’ve achieved so much in life, but when I post something, 95 percent of the comments are about the way you look.” She opined that this was a by-product of being a woman.
Singh further pointed out the double standards in society by saying, “It is fine for Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs to wear the same T-shirt and be considered cool.”
Vineeta Singh Beauty Comment Reignites Debate
Singh also shed light on how the topic of makeup and beauty is still restricted to women and is often looked down upon. She said that she has often been ridiculed for starting a make-up brand which was, according to people, the most cliched thing to do as a businesswoman. “You could do anything, still people will find a way to bring you down,” Singh concluded.
In a Harvard research, people were grouped into highly attractive women, less attractive women, highly attractive men and less attractive men in business, for participants to choose who seemed more trustworthy. The study found that women who were considered traditionally more attractive were considered to be less honest. Whereas for men, the attractiveness quotient didn’t matter at all. It concluded that beauty for women in business is a liability.
Why are women looked at as objects of sex and beauty only?
For ages, women have been told that fair skin is the only way to success and happiness in life. Misleading advertisements that showed an entrepreneur’s key to success was a beauty product that made her fair. Mainstream media also made us believe men agree to marry only women with fair skin. Our society mostly looks at women as objects of sex and beauty. Why is that?
Don’t these unrealistic beauty standards often make women less confident about their skills and thus doubt themselves for not looking “worth it”? Who decides which woman is good looking ? How does it matter in their career?
Unfortunately, Vineeta Singh is not the first woman to be judged for her looks. Recently there was an outrage about a headline that called Captain Monica Khanna beautiful while her bravery in saving 185 lives in a plane accident became secondary in the reportage. Another instance of such hypocrisy had come out when it was found as per reports that the most searched topic about Indian female cricketers is ‘most beautiful’ and ‘hottest’ instead of their achievements.
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Despite all their feats, society continues to reduce women to just their appearance. Unless we make a noise women will never be celebrated for their accomplishments and their talent will always be sidelined for that sake of looks. It is a welcome change to see women like Singh finally open up about the policing they have faced for the way they look as it starts a long-due conversation of worth of women in all spears of life- not just their homes and beauty pageants
Views expressed are the author’s own.
