Ordinary people are not the only ones that have to deal with body shaming; sadly, celebrities also fall victim to criticisms about their body. With them, however, it is far more public—news articles and social media make such cruel comments impossible to avoid or ignore. The latest celebrity to face public scrutiny and body shaming is Jennifer Aniston, who is tired of what she and other woman have to deal with.
“Is she pregnant?” is the question that so many so-called reporters kept asking in regards to Aniston’s body. No, she is not. And she is sick and tired of people who are objectifying not just her, but women this way. In an editorial in The Huffington Post, she explained that it is not just the photos and the comments that she is tired of; it is the “sport-like” scrutiny that comes with the body shaming as well, that people claim are just people practicing their First Amendment rights or writing so-called journalistic pieces.
Even though she has faced this scrutiny for years, since her rise to fame, she finds how the media portrays her to be a reflection of how women are portrayed in general. That is to say, that women are constantly being compared to unrealistic expectations and beauty standards. She insists that the cultural standards need to change, that this acceptance of how women’s bodies are viewed needs to change, as it is reflecting negatively on young girls. From an early age, these girls are subconsciously—and sometimes consciously—told they are not beautiful if they do not fit a certain, unattainable beauty standard. But, because it is the norm, they will struggle to fit the perfect image, and struggle with body shaming from all sides.
While this was Aniston’s biggest message and call to action, it was not the only one she had. The question of “is she pregnant?” is not just a dig at her body, but it is adding to an odd obsession that the public and tabloids seem to have with the “status of her womb,” as Fortune calls it. For her, this is just another way that culture is weighing a woman’s worth: does she have a partner? Does she have children? According to the press, one can take being unmarried and childless to meaning a woman is incomplete or unhappy, which is simply not the case.
Aniston’s final words on the topic are a reiteration of her above points: a woman does not need a man or a family to be happy and successful. She does not need unrealistic body standards set by popular culture to tell her what is beautiful or not. Only that woman can decide what she finds beautiful for herself. Her definition may be different from another woman’s, but it should not matter, and nobody should be body shaming them if it is not what some would consider the “ideal.” Because, when it comes down to it, every woman is beautiful in her own way—and the sooner the public and tabloids learn and accept that, the better.
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