As one of the biggest pop stars in the world, Ariana Grande has faced much public scrutiny over her decade-long career. She has historically chosen to rise above it, but yesterday the singer used TikTok to call out the prevailing narrative around her changing body.
“I just wanted to address your concerns about my body and talk a little bit about what it means to be a person with a body and to be seen and to be paid such close attention to,” she told her 31.5 million TikTok followers. “You’ve been talking about it for a decade or longer so I’d like to join in this time.”
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She then asked her fans to, “be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what,” and that, “If you think you’re saying something good or well-intentioned, whatever it is, healthy, unhealthy, big, small, this, that, sexy, nonsense — we just should really work towards not doing that as much.”
Despite the online #bodypositivity social media movement dating back to 2012 — which was a continuation of 1969’s Fat Acceptance movement first started by fat, queer Black women who were demanding that their bodies be treated with respect — the morbid obsession with policing other people’s bodies appears stronger than ever.
In the last few months alone Halle Berry has also had to address internet trolls after she uploaded a photo to Instagram where she was drinking wine in the nude. “Imagine being in your 50s, still posting nudes for attention in menopause when you should be chilling with the grandkids,” wrote one Twitter user, to which she replied in an unbothered fashion: “Did you guys know the heart of a shrimp is located in its head?”
Emilia Clarke’s no makeup, no filter selfie was ruthlessly unpicked by the internet, with one Twitter user commenting: “Lmao wow Daenerys Targaryen didn’t just hit the wall she flew into it full speed on a dragon.” Singer Ciara too faced unsolicited, problematic commentary after wearing an on-trend naked dress to the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party. “Husbands, would you let your wife dress like Ciara out in public?” commented one social media user, prompting a completely uncalled for debate over appropriate evening wear for married women (answer: anything they want).
Throughout Lizzo’s career, the singer has faced a multitude of negative comments about her weight — even from fellow stars like Kanye West who said: “the media wants to put out a perception that being overweight is the new goal when it’s actually unhealthy.”
In January, the artist was so fed up with the trolling that she dared body shamers to put their money where their keyboard where, writing on TikTok: “I wish that comments costed y’all money, so we could see how much time we are fucking wasting on the wrong thing. Can we leave that sh** back there please?”
This hatred towards women is all about control, says Anita Bhagwandas, author of new book Ugly. “So often comments on others’ appearance reflects how we feel about ourselves and our own value in society. There is a very specific outrage that’s directed at women who sit outside of the traditional, eurocentric beauty standard, especially when they show self love and body confidence.
“That outrage is often because it shows a kind of defiance — and that creates fear in those who abide by those societal beauty norms, or from those who might have a vested interest in upholding them (and the systems of oppression they protect, like white supremacy, or patriarchy.)”
A recent study conducted by The University of New South Wales found that seeing a diverse range of bodies online was an effective "micro-intervention" to stop people feeling bad about themselves.
“We see this strategy as a micro-intervention — a small change we can make to improve people’s experiences on social media and how they feel about themselves in everyday life,” lead author of the study Dr Jasmine Fardouly said in a press release. “In the current study, just one post a day was potentially enough to induce positive effects. More exposure may be even more effective.”
With each of the five women using their platforms to showcase unfiltered, real bodies we should be commending them, not tearing them down. Unfortunately, misogyny remains rife, with ageist, fatphobic and slut-shaming narratives still present across social media and beyond. As Grande said in her TikTok, “There are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful,” so let’s make 2023 the year we keep our unhelpful, unwarranted opinions to ourselves.
