So, body-shaming. It happens. It's awful. It hurts feelings and causes outrage. And, according to South Park, we all just need to get over it.
The Comedy Central show took aim at celebrities like Demi Lovato, Gigi Hadid, Lena Dunham, and Vin Diesel who have called out body-shamers online. In "Safe Space," Eric Cartman enlists Butters to censor negative comments from his shirtless photos online, leading to a plot in which a lingerie-clad Hadid hosts a benefit for an anti-shaming charity.
Unfortunately for Hadid, a villain called "Reality" crashes the party and interrupts her speech.
"What a lovely charity event," Reality tells the crowd. "I suppose you're all feeling pretty good about yourselves. What have you done? You've raised $300 by spending half a million on fillet mignon and crystal glasses. Look at you, Vin Dipshit! You say fat-shaming is wrong so in response you show off your abs. You're the one fat-shaming, you idiot! What's the matter with you people? You're sad that people are mean? Well I'm sorry. The world isn't one big liberal arts college campus. We eat too much. We take our spoiled lives for granted. Feel a little bad about it sometimes. No. You want to put all your shit up on the internet and have every single person say 'hooray' for you. Fuck you! You're all pricks!"
So, yeah, that's pretty harsh. South Park's point seems to be that people suck and we all need to develop a thicker skin and move on. What's more, it suggests that stars like Hadid and Lovato bring the criticism onto themselves by dressing in a provocative matter that shows off their bodies. And, are these celebrities indeed guilty of fat-shaming themselves by blowing up social media with images of their own seemingly flawless figures? Is showing off your abs fat-shaming behavior?
We get where South Park is coming from — it can be hard to feel too badly for a supermodel who complains about not having the perfect body — but their argument is a slippery slope. Maybe there are folks who want to hear "hooray" when they share a scantily clad photo online. But does that mean they should be slammed for it? Were they "asking for it"? Sometimes people just want to share a selfie and not be judged for how good and bad they look. They don't necessarily need praise, but they don't need to be picked apart for it, either.
And, hey, if Cartman wants to show off his bod, so be it.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT