Somatic Interruption: Existing on the Internet as Beautiful
The performance of beauty in 2021 is around us, everyday and everywhere. Through hashtags that open on to millions of images of the human body, body positivity influencers and movements centered in oppressive beauty politics, looking good is no longer a mere byproduct of class, access or conforming to acceptable standards. It has transgressed into an act of establishing presence, as black/queer/female/brown/non-white bodies find themselves forced onto margins of the internet without compromising on their identity.
It’s interesting that when delved into its origins, the internet was marked by the absence of the physical. There was no body but text. Today, the internet has made possible the resources for interrupting the body to the point that the marginalized exists only by daily navigating and negotiating with unwelcome territories. Right-wing conservative politics which has infiltrated social media platforms along with a worldwide rise in authoritarianism coupled with an engineering of the populace towards violence effectively makes these unwelcome territories as potential threats to civil life. These territories include revenge porn, misogynistic and homophobic memes, possibility of widespread trolling, vitriolic language, mental harassment, digital stalking, policing by the platforms themselves under the garb of community guidelines and such. It becomes all the more imperative in such a scenario to tease out the inherent politics of what it means to look good or be termed as beautiful in a world which unfortunately refuses to make space for all. Yes marginalized bodies have created alternatives online but does the video of a dark-skinned beauty influencer posting her make-up regimen feed into or counter the oppressive structure of beauty politics? Casting any act by femmes, queers, non-white and minority creators as inherently radical is problematic as it is based on the flawed premise of universal equality shaped by oppression.
What does it take to be beautiful on the internet? Can you really exist in a vacuum shaped by your own perceived physicality and not end up creating your own negation? The neo-liberal movement of self-care shown as bubblebaths, scented candles and sheet masks, the facile performance of skincare is shaped by capitalism as much as it is driven by the increasing fear of waking up in a world which changes every morning, a world where your identity is constantly crucified and a cleanser-toner-moisturizer routine is the only semblance of control one has. The cost of participating in the digital beauty culture is lonely souls capturing selfies with the perfect filter, participating in obsessive discussions on whether a gel-based sunscreen is better or whether its worth blowing up money on the Estee Lauder Advanced Serum despite the reviews, trying desperately to hold on to the few avenues of momentary happiness an urban capitalist existence leaves behind. The rush of validation translates into a temporary sense of acceptance, that maybe we belong, that maybe if I have the perfect skin or the on-point winged eyeliner or maybe the perfect eyebrow arches I will be allowed and the space I take up will not be questioned. As Momtaza Mehri wrote in The Beautiful Ones, “No one really wants the ugliness that denies you a job, denies you fulfilling relationships with people who will love you without eventually humiliating you. The ugliness that means people will barge into you in the street without apologizing”.
The poetics of ugliness often manifests into aggression and otherness, it forces the bearer to live and survive while being forced as an other, exist but do not breach, dream but do not dare. A traditionally heterosexual conservative white media driven with neo-imperialism has shaped the global conversation on beauty and existing on the internet. A cursory glance through the social media of any transfeminine/masculine or gender non-confirming digital creator will tell you just how much beauty politics exists at their expense and how cis-hetero beauty survives by directing mainstream fear towards them, as without their crucifixion how else will they themselves be seen as beautiful. It begs the question whether this toxic pursuit of beauty and its standards stem from the need to want one’s own version of “Beautiful” to exist or whether they view beauty as a shield?
The internet allows the marginalized body to exist as it wants to be perceived, allowing the space to transgress itself into whatever it finds appealing and the audience to participate and propagate it. They exist as beauty-gurus; behind hijabs, soft non-white bodies; an image not allowed to exist in mainstream white media, they exist as content creators teaching how to choose the best shade of foundation; the first lesson in Eurocentric beauty standards black and brown bodies learn. And they are all oppressive.
Aesthetics have worked as healing but it is high time that we question how we have digitized our pursuit of beauty by creating a structure that when analyzed is nothing but ugly and damaging.
