For my graduate level, ENGL 600 class, we had to write a daily blog post of 500 words exactly on Medium Not 499, not 501 but 500 exactly. I decided to bring my medium blogs over here too after writing them. These were all written earlier this August-September.
It is no secret to anyone that meets me that I am an Ariana Grande fan. Her vinyls are hung up on my wall, I run a stan page, and “hate that i made you love me” will be my most streamed on Spotify Wrapped this year. Mostly when I bring her up, I get the same comment about her appearance.
I understand this. There are plenty of people who are concerned. There are also plenty worried about the impact this could have on others vulnerable to develop EDs. They feel like it is right to call Grande out on her thinness because it is “protecting young girls.”
However, I feel like it is problematic to put the blame on eating disorders on one soul person. When someone picks one person they suspect to have anorexia in media, they often vilify them. People started talking about her weight loss since she was cast in Wicked, and it has ramped up since the release of her music video. No diagnosis publicly exists for Grande, but people suspect she has anorexia. She has become the poster for the “thindemic” and the forefront of the blame.
It makes anorexia become a problem of morality over a mental illness. If Grande is struggling, people screaming that she is endangering young girls by being in the public eye with her body is going to increase her shame and make her spiral. Reducing anorexia to the image of one person fails to address the real reasons behind these body standards in the first place and vilifies the person with said body type. It makes the problem an Ariana Grande problem instead of a mental illness or a patriarchy problem, which misses the point. It makes those with anorexia feel like horrible people too when they see others call Grande horrible for her body.
Blaming the patriachy for the Ozempic body standard would be the correct way to talk about celebrities becoming skinny again without attacking one person. It would be a way to look at society instead of blaming the women who possibly fell victim to it.
If someone is voicing concern for Grande, I feel like it is best to not just say the first thing. It’s not going to help her to post her collarbones and say how shocking it is. For an anorexic, that would fuel them. It’s okay to express concern, but comparison pictures, or investigating what she eats at a restaurant, or calling her a skeleton is only going to fuel the disorder if she has it. Concern for anyone with a mental health struggle should be gentle. If someone was depressed and not taking care of their hygiene, for instance, your first reaction shouldn’t be saying how much they stink or look bad even if that’s your first thought. Just like how with someone you suspect to be anorexic, you shouldn’t comment your first thought. That would be a passionate and thoughtful way to be concerned without sensationalizing Grande herself.
