Maybe We Should Not Shrug as Celebrities Kill Themselves in Front of Us
On Ariana Grande.
Last week, pop star Ariana Grande released the music video for her single “Petal” and set the internet on fire. For several years now, fans and casual observers have worried about Grande’s shrinking size. And in this video, she is painfully gaunt — clearly starving.
Saying that, though — that this woman is clearly very ill, and very clearly starving herself — is somehow controversial. Grande’s defenders are rolling out body positivity cliches not to argue that Grande is healthy — that seems impossible — but to shut down discussion about her. Grande, too, has taken on a kind of teenage obstinance, declaring her life none of anyone else’s business.
In this discourse, commenting on Grande’s thinness is “body shaming.” Expressing concern is inappropriately diagnosing her when we don’t know her life or medical history. Saying that maybe ultra-thinness is not a healthy model for girls and young women is “thin shaming” and a “witch hunt.” Noticing her significant weight loss is prurient “scrutiny,” not genuine concern, because genuine concern apparently can’t be about a person’s body at all.
Sorry, but people have lost their damn minds.
