But when I say I love her, I mean it.
OK but she still looks like a model? What about the rest of us who don’t have the “right” body? Easy for her to say don’t worry about it.
Because she’s fucking survived an eating disorder? Because beauty standards in the western world - especially in modelling and hollywood - say she’s less attractive because she’s not white? Because being beautiful doesn’t mean you FEEL beautiful, and because she puts her money where her mouth is and is a FIERCE advocate for doing away with the shit that means she theoretically has it “easier” bc of her appearance, because no woman should be considered better than another based on their appearance?
Don’t be a DICK, maybe.
Not to mention Jameela also lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is hell on your joints and makes acting—a highly physical job—even more difficult. And yet, she’s thriving. She’s amazing, and just because she’s thinner than average doesn’t mean her body is perfectly abled.
Imagine showing that much of your ass about a disabled WOC who survived an eating disorder speaking up about unrealistic body standards.
Hell, even if she hadn’t dealt with all that shit, using her platform to talk about unrealistic body standards is what we expect everyone to do if they’re being a good ally. She’s not even an ally – she lives in the trenches.
ugh.
She was also hit by a car in her teens (iirc?) and was told that she would never independently walk again, so she used a walker for a period of time. She’s spoken pretty openly about the way being visibly disabled (as opposed to less visible/invisible disability) affects mental health because of how able-bodied people don’t see disabled bodies as fully human. She looks how she looks now – admittedly so stunningly gorgeous that it’s the running joke on TGP how hot she is – but she’s not just an ally talking out of her ass.
She also demands in any promotional material she does that she not be photoshopped, no covering up her stretch marks or skin bulges over the sides of her dress and stuff. She’s out here living up to her word and I applaud her for it
To look at an eating disorder survivor and dismiss their activism or hard work because in your opinion they “have the right body” is the grossest shit. My anorexia almost killed me so please please please stop commenting on people’s bodies. P E R I O D.
Sharing this with you all. The more I hear about Jameela Jamil, the more in awe of her I am.
The other side of “You’re only saying that because you’re fat” is “Stop rubbing your pretty in my face”
If a fat person talks about surviving an eating disorder, they aren’t believed or “Oh, but if you lost weight you’d be HEALTHIER” even if they’re literally talking about how it almost killed them.
If a thin person talks about surviving an eating disorder, “Oh but you’re beautiful”/”But you already look like a model”/etc
It just sure seems really convenient that apparently … nobody gets to talk about eating disorders? Weird.
She also is very honest that body positivity was pioneered by fat women for fat women. She talks a lot about body neutrality and tries to promote body positivity without appropriating it.
She’s definitely still a human being and has made mistakes, but to me it looks like a clear progression on her part to embrace and promote feminism in a very honest, articulate, and self-aware way.
