What is wrong with the way we see the women in our country? I was watching some “special” on stars that are too skinny on some supposedly music channel. You know the kind. The ones that are named for music or videos but only play fake reality shows and exposés on celebrity life or the things that you could have if you were a billionaire. Anyway, as I was watching these D-list celebrities commentate on the condition of these other-list stars, I realized something, something very eye-opening, harsh, and infuriating. We are a completely sexist nation. And women are the worst.
We expect our female celebrities to be perfect in looks and behavior. The public expects perfect bodies and, therefore, the industry demands it. If someone looks a little fuller, we instantly assume their pregnant. Or, worse, getting fat or lazy or that their career is over. We make public sport of finding the “worst bikini bodies” and mocking the heavier set actresses as they stuff their faces. Women starve themselves to work. The thinner an actress becomes, the more likely she’ll work. Or at least the more famous she’ll become. Then she receives positive reinforcement for her anorexia/bulimia/pill popping.
However, there is a fine line that they all walk because, the next thing you know, they are splashed across the tabloids and paraded on television as being too thin. Then, we all speculate that they are, in fact, anorexic/bulimic/a pill popper. They, in turn, respond that they have just gone off birth control and are naturally this thin. Or that they are just eating healthier and working out more. They do this because you cannot be anorexic/bulimic/a pill popper and be a role model for young girls. You cannot stay a working actress if you are any of those things.
But, the truth always comes out. We inevitably find out about their “crazy” habits and we crucify them for it. We attack them for being bad role models, a pedestal we put them on without ever even asking them if they wanted to be there. We chastise them for needing that approval. We rake them across the coals for wanting to be anything other than “who they are naturally” because we cannot accept that we are the ones who did it to them.
