When one innocent Twitter user complimented Jameela Jamil’s skin on a selfie she posted on Sunday, I highly doubt she knew she would cause the twitter storm that followed. Jameela’s reply, where she highlighted how her privilege enables her good skin, caused her to receive yet more criticism. This online criticism only serves to prove Jamil’s argument further; that the media at large like tearing women down and the lack of transparency in celebrity culture serves the negative cycle of women’s self-loathing.
A fan commented on Jamil’s selfie saying her skin is “perfect”. Jamil replied; “My skin is clear because privileged people have more access to good quality nutrition and also our lives are significantly less stressful than the lives of those with less privilege. I also get to sleep more because of this. All of these things keep my hormones in balance and I’m able to address food intolerance easily.’
Then came a tsunami of abuse on Instagram, arguing Jameela should have just taken the compliment. One said “Jameela Jamila has the biggest saviour complex I’ve ever seen in my life..”.
Another said, “I think Jameela Jamil is a bot programmed to be as woke as possible”.
Another stated: “Girl don’t you see how out of touch… you sound? It was so condescending. No one was comparing their skin, they just complimented you. And you’re acting like ‘I’m rich that’s why, you’re poor sorry luv’ is not a good look.”
Enter: the ‘beauty myth’. Feminist Author Naomi Wolf’s seminal idea that culture systematically brainwashes girls to see beauty as currency. It’s a lie that society feeds women; that this thing called ‘beauty’ universally exists and women must want to embody it, at the expense of pursuing other personal goals. It’s a carefully formulated patriarchal machine that makes women compete to ‘win’, only benefiting the cosmetic industry; who prey on the insecurities which they help to create.
Yet, you do not ‘win’ by struggling to the top of a caste system, you win by refusing to be trapped within one at all. It is this sentient that Jameela Jamil aimed to embody this week. By acknowledging her wealth privilege and how it enables her to maintain healthy skin, Jamil gives a more realistic picture to her 3 million followers.
Does every compliment you receive need to be an exercise in signalling your privilege? Perhaps not. But everyone cries when celebs are fake and lie about the work they’ve had done or treatments they get regularly and then Jameela Jamil is honest about her privilege and everyone is all ‘someone can’t even say hello to her without getting a paragraph’.
“Celebrity transparency is so important. Without it, it only serves to disillusion young people further.”
Take the spring of 2015. This saw young girls put their lips to a shot glass and then suck to create a vacuum; creating swollen lips for a temporary lip filler look, alongside the hashtag #KylieJennerChallenge. Kylie Jenner did for lips what her older sister did for bums. Speaking of her famed ‘lip-kit’ brand, Kylie Jenner said it is “the most authentic thing I’ve done in my career”.
Except, this ‘authentic’ life is a mansion in California, the world’s top cosmetic surgeons, infinite sponsorship deals; all cushioned by a bank balance which 99.9% of us will never know. The puckered lips that young girls were copying was not achieved with a bit of overpriced lip gloss but with personal stylists, makeup artists and lip fillers; procedures which Kylie for a long time denied. Meanwhile her brand is now valued at over $900 million.
“‘Since 1956, there’s been no excuse for dry skin‘, says Revlon, ‘Take control of your contours’, says Clarins.”
Celebrity transparency is so important. Without it, it only serves to disillusion young people further. As a girl grows up, she is told that it is her responsibility to play this game and that her success rests in her hands; “Since 1956, there’s been no excuse for dry skin”, says Revlon, “Take control of your contours”, says Clarins. They make infinite beauty seem infinitely attainable.
As Twitter user @hannahvandepeer said, when she compliments a celebrity’s figure she would want them to say “thanks! But I actually have a personal nutritionist, a top PT, a personal chef and ive had some lipo” instead of giving the illusion that it is all down to hard work.
Jamil is by no means void of any criticism, which she herself acknowledges. But the act of calling out this privilege destabilises the frenzy of self-hatred in our youth. It’s the first step in dismantling the ‘miracle cure; and ‘quick-fix’ nonsense market that exists for dieting, aging etc – which thrives on this lack of transparency.
Lucy Williamson
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Featured image courtesy of @kerdkanno via Pixabay. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.