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Celeb News: HuffPost drags Jennifer Lawrence, calls her "body-shaming"
Member Since: 2/17/2010
Posts: 21,811
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HuffPost drags Jennifer Lawrence, calls her "body-shaming"
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Here are some quotes Jennifer Lawrence has made over the years regarding her weight:
"I'd rather look chubby on screen and like a person in real life." -- Mirror
"In Hollywood, I'm obese. I'm considered a fat actress, I'm Val Kilmer in that one picture on the beach."-- HuffPost
"I eat like a caveman. I'll be the only actress that doesn't have anorexia rumors." -- Entertainment Weekly
"I'm never going to starve myself for a part. I don't want little girls to be like, 'Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I'm going to skip dinner!' [...]I was trying to get my body to look fit and strong, not thin and underfed." -- Entertainment Weekly
"If anybody even tries to whisper the word 'diet,' I'm like, 'You can go f- yourself." -- The Gaurdian
"What are you gonna do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's just dumb."-- The Daily Mail
Tumblr celebrates her in .gif as a paragon of quirk and body acceptance, but one thing that may have escaped your notice in the orgiastic celebration of JLaw realness that is the Internet, is that Jennifer Lawrence is a fit, attractive, 20-something woman.
Let's concede the point here that she is, perhaps, a size or two above the accepted Hollywood norm. It's admirable, being the star of a movie franchise aimed at teens, that she is concerned about the effect a too-svelte appearance might have on her audience, who are already bombarded with negative body messages every day. But how her statements are being delivered -- and how zealous and adoring fans have interpreted her words -- only reinforce our cultural standards, and perpetuate the myth that only one type of body is acceptable.
I'm not going to cover the fact that it's messed up that a girl like Jennifer Lawrence has to justify her perfectly gorgeous body to every single media consumer in the world. We all know that's messed up. Let's focus instead on the fact that in order to appease our own self-doubt about our weight, we, the Internet, have decided to ignore how body-shaming the entire image of JLaw, "Spirit Animal" to fat girls everywhere, really is.
First of all, consider her quotes. She would rather look chubby on screen, but like a person in real life? This is a message of positivity only for people who consider themselves chubby, and it comes at the expense of women who are thin. Maybe they're thin because they're sick. Maybe they're naturally slender. But when someone says they would rather "look like a person" than look thin, the message between the lines is that thin people don't look like people.
I want to know, Internet: at what percentage of body fat does a woman earn the right to be a person?
I'm certain that some of my fellow fatties looked at that quote and rolled their eyes. We know that weighing more doesn't grant one personhood, because our alleged lack of self-control and dignity are directly linked to that body fat percentage. Fat people are not people in our culture. They're "fat people." So, what does that quote do? It's not empowering to anyone but women who look like Jennifer Lawrence. And it's not a coincidence that she just happens to be the Coke-bottle standard we're told men should prefer.
I can't help but think of the .gifs floating around Tumblr, the ones where Lawrence talks about how much food she eats, how she loves McDonald's fries. Would the Internet have embraced those quotes coming from a larger actress? Someone like Melissa McCarthy?
I've noticed a funny thing about Melissa McCarthy. Well, besides the obvious, that she's funny. But I've noticed that when Jennifer Lawrence talks about her weight, she talks about how much food she eats, and how she's never going to diet to be thin. And when Melissa McCarthy is quoted about her weight, this is what she says:
"I don't know why I'm not thinner than I am. I don't really drink soda; I don't have a sweet tooth, and we eat healthfully at home. We're all weird for broccoli and pureed-vegetable soup, which we almost always have a big pot of in the fridge -- it's so good!" -- Fox News
"I just don't lose weight easily." -- People.com
"Sometimes I wish I were just magically a size 6 and I never had to give it a single thought."-- Us Magazine
Because Melissa McCarthy actually is a fat woman, she isn't allowed to make brash statements about body acceptance. She has to apologize for her body. Every single one of those quotes might as well have just said, "Sorry I'm fat and you have to look at me, everyone." But it's all she's allowed to say, in the confines of our culture. If Melissa McCarthy had said, "If anybody even tries to whisper the word 'diet,' I'm like, 'You can go f- yourself," the response will most assuredly not be, "How brave! How strong! What a good role model!" The response will be, "What a bad example, encouraging people to be unhealthy! We have an obesity epidemic! Open your eyes, fat is not healthy, sexy, or acceptable! How very dare she!" Even the mild statements she has made about being comfortable with herself and her body are greeted with backlash from armchair internet physicians bleating about health and lifestyle choices.
Imagine if Melissa McCarthy had made so many public comments about food and McDonald's. It wouldn't be cute or funny, it would be schtick. Look at the fat woman, being human and hungry for something bad for her! How grotesquely humorous it is when fat people eat! When Jennifer Lawrence makes these comments, it's acceptable, because her body is still pleasing to our cultural expectation of voluptuous, slim-waisted, long-necked female beauty.
When Jennifer Lawrence says it's "dumb" to go hungry to make other people happy, she's saying it with the carefree attitude of a woman who probably will never have to make that choice to conform. Yes, she'll be asked to diet for a role, and she feels the same pressure to meet cultural expectations as everyone else. But a woman who looks like Jennifer Lawrence doesn't have to shop for her clothes in online stores because no physical storefronts carry her size. A woman who looks like Jennifer Lawrence probably isn't going to have a stranger try to stage an impromptu intervention in a Pizza Hut because they're so, so concerned for her "health." If a woman who looks like Jennifer Lawrence goes to her doctor to complain of an ailment, she'll be offered diagnostic tests instead of a diet plan. Jennifer Lawrence can say it's "dumb" to go on a diet, but Jennifer Lawrence might not be facing weight-related prejudice or illness. Jennifer Lawrence may never be forced to make the choice between going hungry to lose weight versus having a knee and hip replacement at 35.
The reason Jennifer Lawrence is allowed to be a body-positive role model to young girls and "chubby" women is because she is representative of conventional beauty. Jennifer Lawrence's public image has been built on a foundation of fat girl drag. She can say she's "obese" by Hollywood standards, but the claim is laughable when women like Melissa McCarthy also make their living in the same industry and aren't afforded the privilege of unapologetic expression Lawrence enjoys as a conventionally attractive person.
The message of body acceptance built on Jennifer Lawrence's soundbites only empowers those who are willing to ignore the fact that her statements reinforce our current cultural views, rather than subverting them.
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 6,118
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I agree
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 5,133
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I saw this on my Facebook feed just now
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/8/2008
Posts: 21,933
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political correctness gone too far.
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 18,555
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That's because she is.
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Member Since: 11/21/2010
Posts: 3,809
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Member Since: 8/19/2011
Posts: 8,761
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Jennifer Lawrence is perfect. Bye.
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Member Since: 8/8/2012
Posts: 2,773
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I mean I can understand where this person is coming from but I don't think she means it like that
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Member Since: 1/1/2013
Posts: 13,978
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Quote:
I really disagree. Jennifer Lawrence's point is that you shouldn't be pressurized by people into molding yourself into a certain shape. By insinuating that she needs to change her weight/looks in order for her words to have more positive connotations, this article is reinforcing "attractiveness" stereotypes, not Jennifer.
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This.
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Member Since: 6/30/2012
Posts: 19,226
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Jennifer is flawless. So what, she doesn't want to be another generic skinny Hollywood stick starlet. And the fact that people call her fat. Disgusting. She is a beautiful woman, who is so down to earth. Love ha.
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Member Since: 12/9/2009
Posts: 13,069
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It's true. Though I don't think those are her intentions so it's whatever
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Member Since: 5/14/2011
Posts: 14,089
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There is some truth to this article. They made Jennifer an unnecessary scapegoat though.
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Member Since: 12/4/2008
Posts: 6,296
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Quote:
Originally posted by BadBitches
Jennifer is flawless. So what, she doesn't want to be another generic skinny Hollywood stick starlet. And the fact that people call her fat. Disgusting. She is a beautiful woman, who is so down to earth. Love ha.
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I have yet to hear anyone call her fat. She is far from chubby. The 'I'm not like the other girls' schtick is so old. Most Hollywood actresses are NOT stick skinny. Highly exaggerated.
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Member Since: 5/7/2012
Posts: 41,067
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I agree a little bit. When she gets up there and says that she eats all the time, that she doesn't diet, that she is seen as overweight, but does this while looking like she does which is an in shape, thin, attractive female, what does that do for other girls who don't look like her? When an overweight girl sees her saying these things and Jennifer is a good 40 pounds lighter then her? What does that do for that girls self esteem? It's acceptable for thin/attractive people to talk about being seen as fat or ugly, but it's not okay for a person that actually may be 'fat' or 'ugly' to talk about it.
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Member Since: 11/27/2011
Posts: 12,312
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Thank god someone is calling her out.
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Member Since: 10/2/2011
Posts: 4,285
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The author gets some points right, but her intention of character assassination with Lawrence as the easy scapegoat is completely transparent.
You can almost feel the fury coming through the page as if she has some personal vendetta, contorting every which way to vilify Jen and cloud what she really means in those quotes.
I'll be the first to say her hype is unwarranted, but the intense, sudden, vitriolic cultural backlash she's getting right now is bizarre. This take-down included.
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Member Since: 2/17/2010
Posts: 21,811
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Quote:
Originally posted by the floacist
I have yet to hear anyone call her fat. She is far from chubby. The 'I'm not like the other girls' schtick is so old. Most Hollywood actresses are NOT stick skinny. Highly exaggerated.
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Most of the weight comments came from her saying she refuse to lose weight for the role of Katniss in The Hunger Games.
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Banned
Member Since: 3/5/2012
Posts: 5,547
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I agree, and the obsessive bandwagoning of JLaw is repulsive. She's annoying and a bad actor.
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Member Since: 2/17/2010
Posts: 21,811
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Quote:
Originally posted by Konichiwa
I agree, and the obsessive bandwagoning of JLaw is repulsive. She's annoying and a bad actor.
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Member Since: 6/30/2012
Posts: 19,226
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Quote:
Originally posted by the floacist
I have yet to hear anyone call her fat. She is far from chubby. The 'I'm not like the other girls' schtick is so old. Most Hollywood actresses are NOT stick skinny. Highly exaggerated.
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Check Twitter and IMBD. I couldn't believe that people had a problem with her weight after i watched the Hunger Games.
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