everybody's grand

Lady Gaga has just responded to internet trolls that decided to make negative comments about her body following her Superbowl performance.She wrote:

“I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too. No matter who you are or what you do. I could give you a million reasons why you don’t need to cater to anyone or anything to succeed. Be you, and be relentlessly you. That’s the stuff of champions. thank you so much everyone for supporting me. I love you guys. Xoxo, gaga”

An admirable and graceful response. Fan or not, you have to commend Lady Gaga for rising above the negativity and spreading a good message.

Nevertheless, it baffles, upsets and frustrates me that people think it’s ok to make comments on people’s bodies like this, celebrity or not. The woman pulls off a THIRTEEN minute long song and dance routine in front of a massive audience and yet some people can only find the words to comment on her weight. Not on her talent, confidence or her stamina – which is pretty damn impressive to me considering I can’t even hoover for 13 minutes without getting tired. But on her figure. Which in my opinion is absolutely fantastic but that’s not the point.
We’ve all been in group conversations where somebody makes a comment in passing about somebody’s looks, be it a celebrity, a colleague or just somebody you know. “Did you see X has gained weight” “did you see Y recently? She has really let herself go…” Sometimes these conversations start with people insulting their own bodies saying simple things like “Ugh I look so terrible in these photos”, leading others in the circle to go on to insult themselves too. These conversations help nobody. Even if you’re just “joking” with peers or friends, you may not realise what damage you are doing. You don’t really know what friend might be sitting in that circle thinking “I wonder what they say about my body when I’m not here?” Or “If their body is bad, what must mine be?”
Even If you don’t kick off the conversation, joining in on this behaviour is just adding fuel to the fire; it’s making it acceptable to say nasty things about somebody’s legs or thighs or belly or whatever. The best way to react when somebody opens up one of these conversations? Shut them down. Don’t argue with those who start them – that could just get awkward. But by not engaging in the conversation or simply making a more positive comment about the person in question’s talents or personality, your friend/ peer/ whoever made the first dig will hopefully soon learn that criticising other people’s bodies or their own is not only not acceptable or productive, it is in fact an extremely uninteresting topic of conversation.
A human is made up of so many things. Yes they are comprised of their flesh, their bones, their organs, their hair…. But they are so much more than that. They are also made up of their thoughts, their emotions, their talents, their actions, their beliefs, their experiences.
The exterior is simply just the case that keeps it all together, just like wrapping paper on a gift. For, while the paper on something can be attractive, at the end of the day, it’s the gift inside that counts isn’t it? *cheesy grin*
So next time you hear some negative body talk going down, don’t engage in it. Don’t take it to heart. And the next time you worry about that stretch mark or dimple or size of your waist because society tells you that you should, just remember that there is so so so much more to you than that. Be proud of your body, everything in it and all it does for you. Because, unless you have managed to clone yourself somehow, it’s the only one you got!

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