So did you hear about Ashley Judd and her "puffy" appearance? Well, neither did I, until today. Apparently news sources and tabloids have recently been discussing Ashley's "declining" appearance, calling her puffy and claiming that she had plastic surgery. Today, Ashley Judd fought back, writing a piece for The Daily Beast in which she attacks the media for their misogynistic comments. Judd offers reasons for her appearance (being sick, taking steroids, and not exercising) but she offers much more. She offers a criticism of our society, our media, and the conversations about women's bodies that negatively affect women and girls. The whole article is worth reading, but this is my favorite section:
That women are joining in the ongoing disassembling of my appearance is salient. Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it. This abnormal obsession with women’s faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times—I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly. We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women.
After reading this today, I was thinking, "Tell 'em Ashley!!" I especially like the part about patriarchy being a system in which women and men play a part; she implies that women can be misogynistic, too. This is something I've always tried to express but never been able to word as clearly as she does in that sentence.
Also, call me easy to please, but I was really pleased to see her use the word "feminism" in her piece. (She wrote, "If this conversation about me is going to be had, I will do my part to insist that it is a feminist one, because it has been misogynistic from the start.") Ashley Judd has been an outspoken feminist for a long time; the first time I ever saw a "This is What a Feminist Looks Like" T-shirt was in a picture of Judd wearing one. And I know that feminism seems to be making a bit of a comeback, with women fighting against all the latest attacks on women's bodies, health and decision-making rights. But, it is still nice to see a mainstream figure using the word feminism with no shame and no explanation. She puts it out there because there is no other productive way to talk about these issues.
I, for one, love that Ashley Judd wrote this piece. Women in the spotlight, actresses, musicians, athletes, they all deal with constant objectification, speculation and criticism surrounding their bodies, their clothes and their decisions. Today at the grocery store, my boyfriend and I noticed all of the tabloid magazines by the checkout counters: headlines about the Kardashian women having been "abandoned" by their men, unflattering pictures of "overweight" celebrities with their faces covered and the tagline 'Guess Who?!', speculations about who's getting married, who's getting divorced, who's engaging in adultery. We are bombarded with the policing of women, and celebrity women have to handle it constantly. But Ashley Judd didn't just stand by and take it. She didn't just speak out with reasons for her less-than-stellar appearance. Instead, she pointed out the flaws in the criticism against her. She pointed out that the problem is not with her and her body, but with the media which thinks it has a right to degrade her in such an aggressive and negative way. She pointed out that this "insanity" over women's bodies is a problem for everyone, and that we are all limited by it. And most importantly, she pointed out that we need feminism, feminist discussions, and feminist activism in order to fight it.
Tell 'em, Ashley!
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