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Social Media Star of The Week: @Unshaadi
The matchmaking platform wins for its posts emphasising loving and accepting your body, and being kinder to yourself
“There are things we need to think of on a personal level and things we need to try to change on a societal level,” says Rushi Ahuja, the founder of Instagram-based matchmaking page Unshaadi. “Sometimes, it might be difficult to appreciate our bodies due to the conditioning we’ve acquired. But practice being kinder to your body. Real skin doesn’t look like what we see on screens. It’s not always even in texture or colour, and it has hair!”
More than words
Words matter. “When I was a teenager, someone told me, ‘I love how your hair feels fuzzy and warm’. That was that. I’ve never felt the need to be hairless in front of a partner. I was conditioned by positive words of affirmation and not ads,” Rushi explains.
Given the filtered views of people that we get through social media, we need reminders from our loved ones that we are enough, she adds.
So, knowing your love language is crucial. “Your love language is the way in which, when love is expressed to you, you receive it and it replenishes your emotional needs. It can change over time and be a combination of various languages. Understanding your partner’s love language helps you make them feel loved,” says Rushi.
Celebrating the uncelebrated
Putting up such posts has a price. An Unshaadi post about how brown skinned girls don’t see anything close to their naked bodies on screen due to lack of representation was reported for being ugly/obscene by so many people that it got taken down.
“But if even a few people felt better about themselves after scrolling the page, that’s something. At Unshaadi, I want to build a utopian world where people feel sufficient, safe, secure,” says Rushi. “They are reminded the importance of kindness, compassion and empathy, that they should thank their bodies, that beauty isn’t a size, most conditioning should be questioned, and that human connection is beautiful. It is an attempt to celebrate what’s not celebrated. If it were celebrated, no one would be able to sell you things aimed at making you look ‘normal’.
Who should be the next HT Brunch Social Media Star Of The Week? Nominate using the hashtag #BrunchSocialMediaStarOTW or email htbrunch@hindustantimes.com
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From HT Brunch, July 9, 2022
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