Pop Into Culture: Bodies Bodies Bodies

By Antonio Machado Multimedia Editor Words carry so much weight. Words dig deep, even if sometimes they aren’t intended to. They burrow into the mind until they hit the subconscious so they can extract insecurity. However, it doesn’t take much digging to extract. In fact, insecurities are usually found on the first thing anyone sees - the body. It’s almost certain that everyone, at some point or another in their life, has been told something in passing about their body that has followed them with their every move, chasing them into darkness and trapping them in the mirror. Everyone's relationship to their weight is intrinsic and personal to them, and when an external force comments on that relationship, it can completely shake someone's psyche. You are perceiving it, but they are the ones feeling it. Recently, it seems discussions about people’s weight have become mainstream online. Since the rise of weight-loss medications, everyone has become so hypersensitive to the tiniest fluctuations in people’s appearances. As a society, we so easily hyperfixate on appearances, so naturally, it’s easy to notice when appearances change. Throughout the past decade, we’ve constantly seen public figures have their looks picked apart and analyzed. Chadwick Boseman was ridiculed online for years due to his weight loss, only for it to be revealed he was silently battling colon cancer. It is nearly impossible to see a single post about the Wicked cast without someone commenting on Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo being thin women, or making unfounded claims that they are struggling with eating disorders. Actress Kelly Osbourne was under fire for days after people on the internet said she looked “sickly” and “skeletal” after the BRIT Awards red carpet, to the point she made a statement which read, “I’m currently going through the hardest time in my life. I should not even have to defend myself.” Even this past week, Alexa Demie appeared on a red carpet for the first time in four years, missing her buccal fat - a natural phenomenon that happens as you age - and is now receiving hate for losing weight and changing her appearance. People seem so eager to point out any minor changes to someone else’s body in a negative light, regardless of the circumstances that might’ve caused the change. Sometimes, the picture is painted under the guise of concern, but how concerned can you be when you are making jokes at the expense of their appearance? People mistake observation for intimacy. We believe perceiving a change makes us entitled to the why. But the why belongs to the individual. It is the one thing that should be allowed to stay hidden beneath the canvas. We spend so much time talking about each other's looks and seeking out beauty secrets to make our bodies look the best. Isn’t the secret that we all want to love ourselves? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we spend so much time beholding ourselves. Your biggest critic is trapped inside your body and will never stop critiquing it. By engaging in a culture of body criticism, we subject ourselves to it and become trapped in a cycle of unhappiness. Insecurity makes us human. But humanity makes us mean. The tendency to judge ourselves can so easily be projected onto others, who are also likely under the same microscope. It’s impossible to know the circumstances people are under or how they view themselves, and the relationship between those two things is much more fragile than it may seem. Words carry so much weight, but why is carrying weight seen as a bad thing? Weight fluctuations are completely normal, and every human body is unique. Beautiful and healthy are not monoliths, and it’s wrong to assume you understand how someone else’s body functions. It is so easy to project your expectations of how someone should look onto them because it has become socially acceptable to do so. An expression of worry can so easily be taken as an expression of hate that will only exacerbate issues people may be facing. There are so many better, more sensitive ways to navigate expressing concern, just as there are so many better ways to compliment someone’s appearance without commenting on their body. A person’s physical appearance is often the least interesting thing about them, but it is always the first topic of discussion. Conversations surrounding people’s bodies are always uncomfortable for every party involved, so maybe it is best to stop them altogether. Words carry so much power. Instead of using them to unearth insecurities, use them to plant kindness and let the rest stay buried.