The Barbie-Ken syndrome

Rujuta Diwekar, better known as Kareena Kapoor's dietician has recently brought out a book called, ' Don’t loose your mind, loose your weight.'
Before we dismiss or accept this advice, I think the deeper question is, why has the pre-occupation with weight become such a game changer in urban angst?
Affluent and successful business empires are being formed, somewhere the Barbie-Ken stereotype has been established and fat farms, ashtanga yoga instructors, gymns, dieticians, and sports chains are raking in the monies much before the patients are losing it!

The truth behind this phenomenon is simple-
Playing the part, looking the role , is deemed important, sometimes to the exclusion of knowing the job. We have invented a new stereotype, society's latest Playbunny is the, 'Executive'!

A friend of mine who was on the interview panel of an engineering college was taken aback when merit was pushed over for looks. The rationale being , 'Hey if you send a good looking chick on a project, the customer will get some eye candy to feast on, equaling healthier business pipeline and repeat orders from the client.'

Ironically while film is moving toward realistic cinema, real people are becoming fetishes.

It's the same in most professions, finance being a prime example. Several acquaintances who are deliciously endowed but with several corridors of air between their ears, have charmed multi-national banks out of their pants. The logic behind their employment and success in the portals of high finance-
If you are a rich old businessman and have lots of the Gandhis's to invest, you were more likely to hand it over to a pretty lady/or a hunk of beef that just a person..
No MBA College teaches you this, Brealey Myers-The Principles of Corporate Finance, almost the 101 book in any MBA Finance course, does not feature the Barbie-Ken theorem in whole or part, yet somehow senior management from the best institutes across the country employ this theorem most diligently.
But do these financial houses ever think of the ethics of this engagement? Morals aside , a person who can barely count , whose special talent is treadmilling not numbers should not be given the responsibility of mismanaging someone's hard earned or ill gained money.

When the wheels of Roti, Kapda, Makan turn on lycra shod bods...the resultant outcome is pretty simple. If you aren't born pretty ..Get Sculpted, that will do just as well!
Everyone's doing their buttocks and noses, you don’t plan for a holiday, you plan for your next weekend at the fat farm. Someone somewhere has to start .... to STOP.
I support the health regime of eating right and yogiing away, same as the next person.
What i resent is this impassioned race to turn everyone into a stereotype, to not acknowledge intelligence or beauty unless it comes in a commodified package of height, weight and liposuction.

Today the number of your trainer may be part of your cocktail hour conversation, but if we continuously reward and recognize form over content , our children will grow up devoid of substance. It's already happening , look around you and you will find teenagers who are growing up with a belief that any activity which involves using the brain belongs to Dorkville, young adults who suffer from the mall withdrawal syndrome.

Any movement starts with one person. Let this one start from you.
Don’t start a relationship with a bank because a Ken or Barbie promise to service you.
Don’t hire people , because all else being equal they seem to have the potential to demonstrate better boob or butt cleavage.
Don’t give people promotions because all things being equal, they are the only people in your team ,you would like to start a dalliance with. It's a conscious decision..

Give the Rag Doll the same opportunity as the Leo Mattel one.
Give diversity it's due.