Lo and behold, welcome to the anti-aging movement. Diamonds may have been a girl’s best friend, but that was then, this is now. These days love for expensive rocks has been replaced by a magic potion called Botox. Innovations recognize no boundaries, at least not where cosmetics are involved.
With the influx of anti-aging products in the market, women have become increasingly conscious of their looks, and many are willing to pay any price to slow down the traces of time on their faces. Advertisers promise to reverse the aging process and help you pucker up instantly before heading out to a new restaurant.
Were we paranoid about our looks before the market was infiltrated with heavy duty products that could make our wrinkles disappear or even out our skin tone or make lips fuller with collagen enhanced lipstick? There’s another product hitting the markets in the fall: Maybelline New York’s Instant Age Rewind Primer Skin Transformer. Tongue twister isn’t it? It might sound whacky, but promises to work as a primer and filler. Voila.
Buying a wand is not that easy anymore. Another company has come up with ‘breakthrough’ mascara that does not even let you move your hand. All you have to do is turn the thing on and it spins, vibrates, oscillates and covers your lashes with a thick coat of black paint so you can flutter them throughout the evening. I wonder if they are going to create a lipstick that can be applied without having us open our mouths into a wide O?
Ellen Degeneres of the popular show of the same name is sending out an interesting message these days: “Inner beauty is important, but not nearly as important as outer beauty.” This Cover Girl ad that frequently appears on the idiot box has shattered the notion that was ingrained in me and finally opened my eyes. It is very interesting to note that even in a progressive Western society, many feel weak at the knees when encountered with an amazing marketing gimmick. We have hundreds of international and local cable channels being broadcast in Pakistan and so the message somehow becomes universal.
Sadly, the good old written word is not far behind, with what started out as leisurely reading turned into a pop culture phenomenon. Chick literature helped us ladies carve a niche in the world of insecurities and discontent. Books such as the Bridget Jones Diary, Gossip Girl, the Shopaholic series and the very popular Sex and the City were adapted into movies. And now we can’t seem to get enough. Don’t believe me? A Facebook group for Sex and the City fans even lists a Google map that shows where Carrie Bradshaw’s character has been in New York City. Fans can follow her fictional footsteps and appease their desire. For what? I have no clue. But it sure sounds a lot like using virtual money to play Farmville on Facebook.
And then a deluge of sitcoms that give us some creative tutorials on how women overcome issues of ageism and matrimonial troubles. Some writers have succumbed to their desire of embracing misogyny by churning out sitcoms like Cougar Town and Desperate Housewives. For those who are out of the loop, Cougar Town revolves around a 40-something divorced woman targeting young lads out there for sexual and emotional satisfaction, and the men are more than willing to oblige of course. Nothing wrong with the older woman’s fascination with the younger lot, but why is the idea exaggerated through raunchy jokes and highly insecure demeanour?
Times are changing and so are the ways with which we profile gender. The boob tube seems to be portraying women as hunters going after innocent doe-eyed men. A decade ago a woman was a damsel in distress but now they gossip incessantly, have extra-marital affairs and all this not just in private spheres, but publicly. Well, at least that’s what the producers and directors have bet on. And guess what? These ideas sell like hot apple pies. And so do those cosmetic products that are lined up for women who wish to transform themselves and enter the time capsule.
And in fear of physical regression, we seem to have progressed in strange ways. Gender stereotypes may be cute to a certain extent, but they lose their appeal when that’s what you have to live with.
Is the media portraying society or is it the other way around? I don’t know. Now, I am no Carrie Bradshaw, nor am I one of those who follow the Sex and the City episodes fanatically. But I do know that according to the media (and society), women are going to weep just like Carrie if any of the following is missing: a good man, a great career, and an amazing filler job. With cosmetic surgery clinics burgeoning like mushrooms in Pakistan, it won’t be long before our society looks like a set from the Stepford Wives.
See you there.
First published in The Friday Times.
