Words hurt every Body!
Why write the article: body criticism from the press and if we can truly escape it.
I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves guilty to the addiction. The obsession of scrolling through Instagram and platforms hours after we told ourselves we’d go to bed. Patiently waiting to see just how many likes we make or if this new image is going to fit the feed. We desperately hunt for the best filter, tweaking every edit and forcing each angel. All because society has taught us this is what we must do, in order to survive the fantasy creature no longer in our story time books. Trolls have been named and feared throughout social media, we understand who they are but not what they do. But what are they called when it’s no longer the hidden face behind the screen, but the press eagerly printing their story?
There is an ugly side to fashion journalism. Needless to say, mental health has been a constant worry to the industry and is likely to carry on if drastic changes are not made. With it being such a highly competitive and high-stakes career, it comes as no surprise that this has been the case for so many years. Although there are many factors which build up this case, I wanted to zone in on body image and criticism. I felt the need to focus on women in particular, as this felt much closer to home. I decided to take to Instagram to ask my followers if they have witnessed women becoming a target from the press on body criticism. My feedback was as expected. 100% of my followers all agreed with the statement. There is no doubt that women’s bodies are constantly judged and bashed for just being themselves. But imagine under the scrutiny of millions. The pressure models feel is something which I don’t think even I can comprehend. To look that certain way and have that ‘perfect’ look society demands.
But how do we fight this change?
Today I want to talk about an incident I saw recently in regard to what I thought would lead to a more positive outcome. 4 days ago, Cosmopolitan posted an article named ’11 women who prove wellness isn’t ‘one size fits all’. In this many women of all shapes and sizes shared their own experience’s. One in particular, Sophie Butler, explained how her place of joy became her nightmare when she found herself paralysed from the waist down after losing her footing at the gym. She mentioned that:
“After becoming Disabled and living in a body I resented, it was very hard to love my body, but if I hadn’t been through that journey I wouldn’t be as confident now. Self-love isn’t all about loving your body. It’s about unlearning the prejudices Disabled bodies face. All the insecurities are just a pretext from society.”
These incredible stories moved many, The Telegraph senior editor Caroline Leaper was among those. She was eager to share her opinion on the change of stereotypical ‘diet plans’ that appear on every cover into the new year. She commented that:
“Cosmopolitan’s new cover offers a refreshing comment on body image for the new year.”
This body positivity lasted less than a few moments on our screens, however. It became surrounded by a swarm of backlash by other media institutions and social media members all wishing to shout their disapproval. The Daily Caller issued an article by Marlo Safi. In this his first sentence began:
“Cosmopolitan is featuring multiple ‘plus-size’, ‘fat’ women in a magazine issue that commends every body size is ‘healthy’.”
These added quotations and use of the word fat just go to show how disapproving they feel of this. How they feel it is shamefully right to be able to use these terms to target women. As I read further on it is clear that there are many others that also disprove. With a list of exampled tweets and quotes from further individuals all claiming that this is wrong and dangerous in a time where ‘obesity is one of the top underlying health conditions associated with COVID-19 deaths’. Bella Wallersteiner took to Twitter to say:
“We know diabetes puts people more at risk of COVID and obesity is the main cause of contracted diabetes in the world. Wokeness at its worst.”
Will this end?
But is this a fight for survival, or simply another excuse to be able to shame and humiliate those with bodies different to theirs. Causing those affected to most likely suffer from serious mental health conditions. It shows that on a positive note many media institutions are pulling away from this shamefulness. However there are still plenty of other companies trying to pull them back down. Should this behaviour really be allowed? It saddens me to see so many journalists disagree on a cover that was simply trying to bring that NEEDED body positivity into the world. But what do you think? Will there be an escape from this criticism? Can we truly find a way out?
