Recently, pictures of Billie Eilish and Cardi B came out and were met with large amounts of ridicule and judgement. 

In these photos, Eilish and Cardi B were both depicted in different ways. Eilish was walking and wearing comfortable, casual clothes when she was photographed, while Cardi B was in a compromising position with her bare chest exposed in a picture that was likely posted on her Instagram story on accident. 

Immediately, these pictures were met with shaming: Eilish for her weight and her figure, and Cardi B for the way her chest looked. Eilish is a growing teenager. Cardi B is a working mom. Either way, they are both music artists who were not put in the spotlight for people to critique their bodies. They were put in the spotlight to perform. Women were not put on this earth to be criticized and judged for their natural figures. 

This is even seen with figures like Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, and so many more. It reaches past the shape of their bodies and goes as far as blemishes, clothing choice, height, weight, and even skin color. Body-shaming is extremely far-reaching, and this affects how people see women in general. Society looks at women like they are less than because this criticism happens so often and so disproportionately. 

For women to be judged on their bodies—their natural, normal bodies—is entirely unfair and unrealistic. It may be “no big deal” in the moment to poke fun at a woman’s figure, but all the teenage girls who have bodies that look like Billie’s, the mothers who have chests that look like Cardi’s, the women with similar builds—these are all people who see and hear the “playful” jokes and thinly veiled distaste about bodies that look like theirs. 

Criticizing women’s bodies has an impact past the person being criticized; it has an impact on everyone who looks like them. Women have to walk on eggshells to avoid criticism for their bodies. We have seen the incredibly brutal and harmful effects of words and remarks on body image—and yet, time and time again, we see people coming back to bite. 

If we continue to let people mock and ridicule women, it perpetuates a culture where women will continue to be judged on an aspect of their lives that is extremely hard to control. Where does the judgement end? With our family members or our friends? Extending grace to everybody—even to people we don’t know—is an aspect of kindness that needs to be practiced more.