Once there was a boobs man, now there's an ass man, but a girl's got more
"Yeah. I got a big fat ass. Come on!" runs Nicki Minaj's now-more-than-famous song, "Anaconda". This week saw Kim Kardashian's famous assets, bared in front of the lens, too. A few days back, we were also treated to a leotard-clad Jennifer Lopez's booty. If the last decade, and many decades before that, were dedicated to the miracles of womankind called boobs; this year will probably be credited with the rise of the derriere. So much so, that if news is to be believed, in the US, padded panties that promise a rounder butt are sending sales figures spiralling high.
It's not just the panties whose sales are soaring up, as the focus shifts towards a woman's posterior, buttjobs are increasingly gaining popularity all over. Curvaceous bottoms are climbing the desirability charts steadily, and both the genders seem to be happy with their newest obsession: the booty. While it is okay to want to be desirable, and it is a matter of personal choice whether or not a woman decides to enhance her boobs or butt, the unhealthy fixation with one part of the body is what irks many - including yours truly.
Over years and decades and centuries of silicone implants and the perfect cup-size questions, the focus is now on the other side of the body. From padded bras, we have now moved to padded panties. Somehow, in the perfecting-oneself hullabaloo, nobody seems to be really bothered by the fact that we are not a loose assemblage of dismembered parts. There is a lot to a woman beyond the boobs and the butts. We're boobylicious, we're bootylicious, we're not. We're more than that. We're living, thinking - thinking - beings.
While certain industries go about calculating their profits from the booty-perfecting business, the mind ends up being treated as a second class citizen, if not ignored altogether. In the Medieval Ages, a woman was considered to be an emotional, hysterical being, alien to logic and reason. In 2014, while the feminine gender goes about conquering every single domain, there still are people trying to reduce them to mere body parts. In this matter, both men and women participate wholeheartedly; the former, by praising or ogling at parts of women, and the latter, by concentrating on perfecting those very parts. But then, what exactly is a perfect pair of boobs? Or the perfect butt-cheeks? Despite years of devoted research by people, we still differ on the conclusion. Because, truth be told, the perfect measurements of one single part of the female body is a myth. It is extremely subjective, and it does not exist.
It is not bad to be obsessed with one particular part of the body, as long as it is not a self-destructive sort of obsession. We all do it. All I can think of, for example, while putting on any pair of jeans, is 'thighs, thighs, thighs!' and how heavy they are. But no, I don't devote all my waking and sleeping hours to that. Neither do people who have some understanding of a healthy, happy, whole life, where the body and the mind co-exist. Obsessions, when still within the healthy parameters, can motivate one to do something beneficial about them. It is when the obsession turns dangerously unhealthy that some sort of control is required. When, for example, entire companies make billions out of some women's boob- or butt-fixation. Say that to the butt-enhancement clinics. Or not. They wouldn't understand, any which way.
Yes, I have a fat ass. My best friend has a not-as-fat ass. My unfriendly neighbour has an almost-negligible ass. That doesn't make us any less of a good or a bad person. Butt, yes... but we're more than that.