When celebrities take to social media to share their latest unabashed and generally uninformed opinions on social or political issues, I typically keep scrolling. I have no desire to hear an over-inflated television personality speak about social issues they will never be affected by, or weigh in with an uneducated opinion on the current political climate.
It is with this disdain towards celebrity input that I have surprisingly found solace in the recent opinions of actress Jameela Jamil.
In the past several weeks, Jamil, currently starring in NBC’s “The Good Place,” has used Twitter to criticize the unrealistic representation of women’s bodies in the media. She has also used the social media platform to speak out against celebrity endorsed diets and weight-loss supplements.
Her most recent social crusade attempts to tackle the subject of photo airbrushing.
“It is anti-feminist. It is ageist. It is fat-phobic. It looks weird. It looks wrong. It’s robbing you of your time, money, comfort, integrity and self-worth. Delete the apps and unfollow those who are complicit in this crime against our gender,” Jamil wrote for the BBC.
I am not a celebrity, and my photos have never been airbrushed, but I do agree with many of Jamil’s oppositions.
The pressure placed on young women in our society to not just look beautiful, but to look perfect, is deplorable. Through the vehicles of social media, television and film, the idea that the unattainable must be attained is hard to ignore. These computer-generated images plastered on magazines and celebrity Instagram feeds cannot be replicated by a teenage girl looking in the mirror. In fact, these images are so ridiculous that they cannot even be replicated by the celebrity in the photo either.
As someone who has struggled and often still struggles with my own body image, I found it refreshing to hear a female celebrity voice the same frustrations. I am hopeful that other female celebrities will use their influence to combat this injustice against women.
Until then, I will just keep scrolling.
