I really like my skin: Syra Yousuf snaps back at bullies with unrealistic beauty standards
When it comes to women in the media in Pakistan, people have but a few innocent requests of them. Actors should be modest, fair, tall, have flawless skin, and God forbid they're anything but a size zero.
Criticism and online bullying for not living up to these unrealistic beauty standards aren't new and the latest celebrity to be caught up in this web is Syra Yousuf, who was criticised for not having beautiful skin and looking 'older' in a picture posted by her sister Palwasha Yousuf.
Bullies crept out of the woodwork to comment their absolute shock at seeing real skin.
Some people praised Palwasha for the representation, thanking her for not editing the picture and truly letting real, textured beauty shine.
It gave them confidence to embrace their own imperfections, they said.
The Chalay Thay Saath actor responded to the online hate with grace.
"I really like my skin. #Nofilter" she wrote.
Confidence and unfiltered beauty? Syra is serving straight goals. The bullies commenting on how she has 'aged' or how bad her skin looks seem to be confusing Instagram filters with actual skin. Real skin is textured; it has redness, bumps, acne, scars, lines, wrinkles and pores and looks beautiful just as it is. Shaming someone for being human makes as much sense as believing people actually look like the edited pictures they post on Instagram.