Unfair & Not So Lovely: Exploring the Darker Side of Globalization, the Media & Indian Beauty Standards

As the world continues to be more global and accessible, ideologies, values and thoughts can easily be transferred to different parts of the world. This is particularly done through the media and other related mediums. The concept of beauty is greatly influenced by the media and the media impacts a society greatly especially if a specific set of standards are deemed as “beautiful”. As the media utilizes different mediums to showcase the “ideal” standards of beauty for Indian women, we began to see a problem arise for those who don’t “fit” the standards. This paper seeks to examine what influence this globalization through media has on its audience and in particular, on their perspective of beauty. Additionally, through the use of an auto ethnographic lense, this paper deconstructs topics such as identity formation, culture and beauty.