People always have something to say about others, be it about their face, their body, their skin color, the way they dress up, their love life, even to the very personal thing that is their belief. It’s inevitable that at some point you’ll have your own personal judgement about those things too. But does that mean that you should voice yours simply because you have one? Because you think that they need to know what’s on your mind, despite the fact that your opinion—which they never asked for in the first place—might hurt their feelings? No, it does not. Giving an unsolicited opinion can be rude and hurtful.
With the help of social media, we have more freedom to deliver our opinion. We can easily comment of every celeb’s Instagram post, making them more reachable. In a snap of the finger we can leave a comment about how pretty they looked before the plastic surgery, how they look too fat or too skinny now, or how strange the shape of one of their body parts is. It is one thing to have an opinion, but it ‘s a whole another thing to deliver it in a hateful way without any good intention other than just hurting, humiliating, or making fun of the target.
It can’t be denied that I personally find pleasure in scrolling through the comments section on Instagram, they’re like one of the sources of my happiness. But as time goes by, the comment section is misused as a place to say hateful things, to spread rumors, and even to make fun and body-shame others. And when someone tells them not to say those things, they hide under the excuse “everyone has the right to express their opinion.” In a way they’re right, but maybe they forget one thing, as Ronald Reagan once said “with freedom comes responsibility, a responsibility that can only be met by the individual.“
Speaking of getting body-shamed online, this can happen to anyone, especially if you’re a public figure where sometimes people have more expectations of you to look in a certain way. Recently, Kendall Jenner just got shamed for having acne on her face during the Golden Globes red carpet. Yes, you didn’t misread it. Some people were getting pretty judgemental about her acnes and decided to tweet it. Oh God. Isn’t it the most common skin problem? And just because she’s a supermodel, rich, and considered to have to the best skincare regime doesn’t mean she won’t have it at some point in her life. Nobody is immune to the occasional break out so why make fun of her when you can have it too, or perhaps worse than her?
Can’t we just appreciate how stunning she was at that event, wearing black Giambattista Valli gown in solidarity with the Time’s Up movement? She was there supporting the movement, along with other celebs too, so what’s the problem? With that being said, it’s just sad that some people on the internet chose to ignore the overall appearance of a woman, most importantly a night’s powerful message that is putting an end to sexism and sexual harassment in Hollywood, and instead chose to criticize unimportant thing that completely has nothing to do with the whole event; that is Kendall Jenner’s acne. And it’s even sadder that it’s mostly done by women to fellow women. It’s like no matter how many women empowerment movement are formed, women still tear each other down over physical appearance.
Are the #womensupportwomen and #girlpower thing just bullshit?
Body-shaming and other physical related shaming perpetuates the idea that people should be judged mainly for their physical features. Still from The Kardashian family, Kim Kardashian was body shamed while she was pregnant, even until when she’s no longer pregnant. Haters called her horrible names like fat and even compared her to a killer whale. You should’ve seen the meme all over the internet. Goddamn people it’s pretty humanly to gain weights especially when you’re pregnant.
Being a part of the British Royal Family won’t be enough to stop people from body-shaming you. People are body-shaming the Duchess of Cambridge by saying that she appears to be too thin to be healthily pregnant. Some even called her malnourished—which is pretty offensive, isn’t it? I’ve never been pregnant before but I know enough to say that carrying a baby inside you is already a struggle on its own. And now that she also suffers from Hyperemesis Gravidarum, your acid remarks is pretty much the last thing she wanna hear.
The fact that there are conversations about Kendall’s acne is a reminder of how much emphasis our society still put on women’s appearance as important and valuable, and that people will always find something to be criticized, no matter how normal that thing is. And since I’m a part of the society, I keep reminding myself that we’re more than just pretty, clean faces. And importantly, I keep reminding myself not to constantly criticize others for every little change in their body. I won’t be happy to get criticized by people who have no idea what I’ve been through with my body so I might as well try my best not to do it to others.