Women being held to different standards than men is a fact of life, and female celebrities adhering to different pressures than male celebrities is another offshoot of the male privilege that dominates our patriarchal culture. From Janet Jackson taking the blame for the 2004 Superbowl to Hillary Clinton being painted as unlikable, women have always been subject to far worse scrutiny by the media. In this article, I want to dig into some of the women whose real struggles and personhood have been questioned due to this intense public scrutiny.
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Jameela Jamil
Jameela Jamil is a model and actress who has always been vocal about her feminism and body positivity. She has been repeatedly criticized for being too aggressive about her views. While it’s important to have these discussions with differing opinions, her critics would rather she disappear from the conversation overall. However, the past few days have taken a different turn for Jamil’s credibility. As an activist, she shares her personal struggles with eating disorders and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome in an effort to show that celebrities are not perfect people either. But a recent conspiracy birthed by writer Tracie Morrissey purports the idea that Jamil has Munchausen syndrome and lies about having medical diagnoses to get attention. For people with invisible illnesses, this is a dangerous stereotype because there’s already the stigma of not being real. Furthermore, women of color are statistically less likely to be believed about their illnesses or even accepted within their own cultures.
2. Taylor Swift
Opposite to Jamil, Taylor Swift has been a notoriously private celebrity in recent years, especially after the public blowout from various feuds with celebrities like the Kardashians. Because of her role in these feuds, she is painted as a liar even in more serious cases like her sexual assault case in 2017. Documented in her new film Miss America, Swift’s struggle with finding her political voice stems from being told that good celebrities don’t speak out about controversial topics. Even after speaking out, she was often characterized as only saying something for clout. No matter what she does, she’s attacked as having an ulterior motive.
3. Meghan Markle
The most glaring, recent example of what the media can do to a woman has been Meghan Markle’s struggle with the British press. All members of the royal family are expected to be picture-perfect, but the onslaught of harassment that Markle has faced since her marriage into the royal family is different. Whether this is because she is American or half-black, it’s hard to label why the tabloids are extra hard on her. But as she mentions in an interview (https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/18/world/meghan-markle-new-mom-stress-trnd/index.html), the tabloids criticize her like she is not a person. Eventually, this scrutiny resulted in Markle and her husband to step away from the royal family to avoid the media circus that ended Princess Diana’s life.
Celebrities always have a spotlight on them, and the pressures they face as they are expected to always be perfect are immense. The pressure is even more intense for women and women of color because media scrutiny often deprives them of their personhood and credibility.