There are the celebrities you adore and then there are the ones you don’t. But there’s a difference between not liking their music or their movies and a deep hatred that makes you roll your eyes every time that celebrity is mentioned. It’s a very common thing to hate on popular female celebrities for trivial reasons — reasons that their male counterparts never seem to be the victim of. If you seriously hate on a female celebrity for one of the following reasons, you might want to reevaluate your feelings.
1. She dates a lot of people. (Example: Taylor Swift)As evidenced in her single “Shake it Off,” Swift is very well aware of her haters. “I go on too many dates… But I can’t make ‘em stay,” she sings, adding that that’s what people say about her. Swift gets an incredible amount of hate for something that shouldn’t matter. It’s a common trend for female stars who date a lot of people to get a lot of backlash. Why the outrage? Some people just like to date more; that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Swift in particular gets a lot of criticism for using her past relationships as inspiration for songs, but, once again, that’s nothing to be critiqued for. We all channel our heartbreak into something, and in Swift’s case it just happens to be hit singles. If the reason you can’t stand a female celebrity is because she’s always dating someone new, try to put yourself in her place and imagine having to deal with haters on top of heartbreak.
2. She’s provocative or sexy and has no shame. (Example: Miley Cyrus)After her infamous performance at the VMAs last year, Cyrus was the talk of the tabloids. She was called trashy and too provocative, especially for a former Disney star. Fast forward one year, and Nick Jonas — another former Disney star — is posing almost nude for Flaunt magazine. Is he getting criticized or called a sl*t or being told to put his clothes back on? Nope. People are praising his transition from his formally wholesome image and looking forward to his new sexy album. Meanwhile, Cyrus has been trying to ditch her Disney label since Hannah Montana ended, but the media doesn’t want to embrace her transition from wholesome tween to edgy young adult.
The main critiques and hate she gets isn’t about her music, her songwriting or anything of artistic merit — it’s about her appearance, her sexuality and the fact that she’s provocative and she knows it. It’s a bit ridiculous to think that these two former Disney stars are doing the same exact transition, but Jonas gets praised and Cyrus shamed. If the reason you’re hating on a female celeb is because she’s sexual, then I suggest you think about whether you’d say the same thing if she were a man.
3. She dated your celebrity crush. (Example: Selena Gomez)Gomez was harassed constantly on Twitter while dating Justin Bieber simply because she was dating him. Recently, British singer FKA twigs has also been dealing with Twitter-based threats and racial slurs for dating Robert Pattinson. Being in a relationship is tough; I’m sure we can all agree with that. Being in a relationship with a celebrity is really tough. But being in a relationship with a celebrity while dealing with death threats and constant harassment? That’s nearly impossible. So if the reason you’ve got a problem with a female celeb is because she’s dating the dreamy hunk whose poster is by your bed, you need to calm down and think twice before posting that aggressive tweet.
4. She’s famous for “doing nothing.” (Example: Kim Kardashian West)The reason Kim Kardashian became relevant to the public eye is because of her sex tape — something she made with a consensual partner in confidence. But when it was leaked, instead of despairing and letting it get to her, Kardashian West took advantage of the situation. So maybe you think she’s overrated, and you couldn’t really care less about how her wedding dress looked. But a casual indifference and annoyance shouldn’t escalate into aggressive hatred.
5. You’re not into their style. (Example: Nicki Minaj, Kesha)This one is simple. If the whole party girl, twerk master, hands-in-the-air scene isn’t your thing, that’s totally fine. Instead of hating celebrities who partake in that lifestyle and bashing them vehemently at every given opportunity, just change the radio station or TV channel or tell your friends gabbing about those certain celebs that they’re just not your style. There’s no reason to overreact.
Is it ever okay to hate?There’s a difference between disliking and hating. You can dislike a celebrity for being racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic. You can dislike a celebrity for being rude to their fans or staff. You can dislike a celebrity for claiming that someone else’s work is their own or for being abusive to their partner. You can even hate them for those reasons. But to turn your dislike for a celebrity’s music or movies into a burning hatred is wrong.
There are so many wonderful empowering women out there, and harboring hatred to those you don’t like for trivial reasons just adds more negativity to your life. It’s not hip or cool to hate, so instead of ranting about why you hate a certain celeb, let go of that anger. Channel it into something more positive.