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| Fat? I think not. Many are saying these photos are purposely distorted. See Gaga's actual body below. |
Just read some of the absurd headlines:
The
scoop? Do we really care to know HOW or
WHY she gained a few pounds?
The fat Lady
Gaga sings [Examiner]
So this is
what we’re calling “fat” these days? No wonder teenage girls and women feel “fat”
at 120 lbs!
Her reaction to all of this blasting and tabloid gossip was
quite interesting. She started a project on her website, littlemonsters.com, called
Body Revolution and posted half naked pictures of herself with the caption “Bulimia
and Anorexia since I was 15.” Fans
worldwide have posted photos of themselves along with messages about their
personal struggles. The whole idea is to basically say, screw society’s view of
what’s beautiful and let’s feel proud of who we are and how we look. It is a fight against the notion that skinny
bodies, clear skin and high cheekbones are beautiful.
I love this. I love
that someone with serious influence, especially among younger girls and boys,
is standing up and fighting back against the criticism surrounding her
body. Notice I said HER body. She owns it! Nobody else has the right to critique her
body. It saddens me that women
are still treated like objects, and that we are judged on our appearance on a daily
basis. Ladies, these are our bodies!
Nobody should be allowed to utter a word about how much we weigh or how pretty we
are. How does our weight affect anybody
else in the world? And why do “they” get to define what beautiful is? It’s all
bullshit (excuse my language). I will forever
find it frustrating. And sadly, I continually struggle to deal with this world
we women are living in. I have succumb
to the pressures. Heck, I was in a
sorority at one point and weight was the primary topic of conversation. I weighed 15 lbs less than I do now, and I
promise you, it was unhealthy and I was the saddest I’ve ever been.
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| Lady Gaga herself. |
This madness needs to end.
This fat phobia that is so prominent in our society needs to be eradicated. Girls are literally killing themselves to be
thin.
Of course, with anything that goes against the grain, there
comes some criticism. Bitch Media posted an article questioning whether or not this project is actually resisting beauty standards.
From
the Bitch Media article, titled Body
Revolution: Is Lady Gaga's New Project Resisting Beauty Standards or
Reinforcing Them?
In the five hours since the page launched, fans have uploaded photos of themselves that display skin conditions, scars, and disease. Accompanying them, however, are comments from Gaga like: "Emily Rose recovering from anorexia. We support your bravery and have compassion for your pain.(and huh gUUrl, you don't need to diet ur FINE AS HELL)," and "My assistant and best friend sonja. Stage 2 breast cancer. just had double partial mastectomy from DD TO C. Yesterday was first day of radiation. Looking good b*tch. She is so brave. Her boobs look even better!!"
I can see how these comments, by Gaga herself, are reinforcing the focus on BEAUTY, the very thing we're trying to get away from. Maybe her intention is to say that we’re all
beautiful regardless of cup size. But
why say, “You don’t need to diet, ur fine as hell?” Bitch Media asks, what if
she wasn’t “fine as hell,” would she then need to diet? Good question.
I can see both arguments regarding Gaga’s Body Revolution, but
overall I find it pretty awesome. I
think Lady Gaga handled the criticism positively and is using it to send a
message to millions of people. I am
always pleased when a celebrity uses their status to positively influence
others. I have cheered for Gaga as she stood up for gay rights and "boo"ed her when she wore a meat dress. Whether you love or hate Lady Gaga (and I am somewhere in between) is irrelevant to the conversation. This is about something much larger.
With that said, rock on, Lady Gaga! Continue to stick it to the man!
With that said, rock on, Lady Gaga! Continue to stick it to the man!
Posts
First, I think it's very cool that you wrote a post about this. I saw this on Jezebel earlier today, and I've been thinking a lot about it.
ReplyDeleteWeight and body image are things that I never thought too much about until the past few years. I was always very thin throughout high school and college, but when I turned 26 my metabolism just peaced out seemingly overnight, and I gained a good 25 pounds over the next 2 years. It was the first time in my life that I was really unhappy with how I looked, and I actually cried for like several days in a row when I realized that I was wasn't a "skinny girl" anymore, whatever that really even means. I didn't realize how much value people, including myself, placed on my thinness or how proud I was of it (even though I did literally nothing to earn it; I didn't even work out), and I'm much more aware of that privilege now. I don't think I was ever mean to anyone to their face about their weight, but I would definitely make nasty comments about "fat people" to my friends or in conversation (which is maybe arguably even bitchier). I don't do that anymore; you never know what someone is going through and a person's body is no one's business but their own. Hello, Captain Obvious. I'm starting to lose some of the weight now, but I'm not back to where I was, and I still really struggle with my feelings about "being fat" pretty much every day. I was never more than a size 10... in what world is that FAT? Our society is absurdddd.
So anyway, I generally find Lady Gaga kind of annoying, but I do think this is a very classy way of handling the whole situation. And I understand the criticism of some of her comments to the posts on her site, but I don't think anyone can question that she's coming from a good place and is at least trying to change people's thinking and attitudes. I think the biggest problem is that she (or anyone) has no way of knowing how someone is going to take a comment. Like saying to someone who has lost weight/is losing weight that they look "really thin" can be taken in an unhealthy way... you might mean that they're too thin, but the person might think "Yes! Awesome! This is working, let me keep doing this even more." Commenting on anyone's body is just a very slippery slope, but like I said, I think it's understood that she's commenting in a way that is meant to be positive and healthy and she's not encouraging or condoning unhealthy behavior or attitudes.
tl;dr version: love the post, lukewarm on Lady Gaga generally, but like what she's trying to do here.
Thanks for posting about this, and sorry for such a ridiculous long comment. Obviously, it struck a chord.
I love your ridiculously long comment! I agree about weight comments being a slippery slope. When people used to tell me I was "so skinny" in college, I took it as a compliment. It just added fuel to the fire and I lost even more weight.
DeleteLady Gaga is definitely an interesting bird, but she is coming from a good place, like you said.
It is amazing how your perspective changes when you are no longer the "skinny girl." I experienced some of those same feelings. I'm glad your views on weight have evolved. I hope you continue to become comfortable in your own skin and happy with your body.
Hi, got here from SUAR. I'm not completely sure who Gaga is, even though some spin buddies like her music. I'm liking that she is at least trying to do something about the issue. I used to be really bad about judging women by appearance, and have learned that how fit she is has nothing to do with however "big" she might be. I thought that "athletic" equalled "lean". There was that Aussie swimmer that was getting hassled about her weight, and this is someone that can out swim nearly everybody on the planet. There was one really big girl in ballroom dancing lessons, and she was as light as a feather on her feet. Being big can be unhealthy, but then, so can being too lean. Or oscillating back and forth.
ReplyDeleteI agree! And oftentimes, thin women are viewed as healthy and fit when in fact, they may not even exercise and are surviving off of diet coke and cigarettes. On the flipside, a larger woman may run marathons and compete in triathlons but if you saw her walking down the street, you wouldn't assume she is healthy. It's such a complex issue and I agree with you. I am glad to hear you are coming around and have stopped judging women based on their appearance. :)
DeleteGlad you posted about this! I think it's crazy what the media and Hollywood call 'fat'. But sadly, I don't think it'll ever change. I feel sorry for Gaga, but I do believe she's handling it well!
ReplyDeleteIt's ridiculous what the media picks up on and wastes their time on reporting. Just let people live their lives already. Anyway, great blog, looking forward to future posts!
ReplyDeleteDo I live on another planet? This is the first I've heard anything about this. Our country is weird because we definitely have a problem with obesity that is unhealthy and needs to be recognized and dealt with (especially in my part of the country), but then we have this other contingent of people who are obviously not obese but treated like they are. So bizarre.
ReplyDelete