Unfair and Unrealistic Standards (That Are All Our Fault...)

Society seems to become infuriated and/or repulsed by the thought of celebrities living unhealthy lifestyles.  We gossip about those who smoke when nearly one in five of everyday humans has or is smoking currently.  We gawk at the idea of an overweight model.  We think it’s crazy for a celebrity to go to the grocery store without makeup on.  Why do we do this?  The answer is actually quite simple…

According to “Celebrity Bodies” by Daniel Harris, it was brought to my attention that “Hollywood didn’t create fat, anxious Americans; fat, anxious Americans created Hollywood, a vision of humanity that bears little resemblance to the typical dissipated physique…”  So often do we place unfair standards on our celebrities that we forget that most of the time they are actually quite unattainable and sometimes even detrimental and dangerous.

The essay opens with the proclamation of the death of two Uruguayan fashion models.  Harris claims that in the months before her death, one model only ate lettuce leaves in order to stay fit and healthy.  Now, this is not truly fit and healthy, for we know that a truly healthy diet is composed of a balance of proteins, fibers, etc.  But at the sign of a fashion model, we think that they really are being healthy.  We strive to be like this skinny woman but little do we know that she probably isn’t fueling her body very well.
Most common in the average adolescent, “thinspiration” is sought.  Kids want to be just like the skinny celebrities that they see on television and at awards shows.  However, it is fair to ask something like, “Does Lindsay Lohan’s waspish waistline make us skip meals and induce vomiting…?”  The answer is, of course, no.  Even if you were compelled to say “yes”, it isn’t her, only the idea of her that actually encourages you to transform.  Society created celebrities to reach the standards that are too high for the average human to reach.  We choose the most “perfect” humans to take on the most “perfect” lifestyle so that we don’t have to.
One of the things that struck me the most when reading this essay was that “The typical American woman is 5’4”, weighs 140 pounds, and wears a size 14; the typical fashion model is seven inches taller, twenty-three pounds lighters, and twelve to fourteen sizes smaller.”  We blame pop culture for x, y, and z, yet it is our fault that they feel like they have to live up to the standards we have set on them.  They are starving themselves, overworking themselves, causing harm to their bodies, just for our entertainment.

At the beginning of the year, my class watched a TED Talk by Cameron Russell.  She went on to tell us about how looks truly aren’t everything and that what we see may not actually be how it really is.  Russell is a fashion model who is actually very unhappy.  She is extremely insecure due to the fact that she knows she cannot go out unless she looks her best.  She is not allowed to have an off-day.  She is not allowed to look ghostly when she is sick and she is not allowed to wear sweatpants unless she won’t be seen.  Why are we placing these harsh standards on the lives of our celebrities when we do the exact things that they “should not” or “cannot” do?