Jessica

Vozel

Read Jessica's bio and previous columns here

February 9, 2009

A-Rod Juices, Phelps Tokes, Bale Rages . . . and Jessica Simpson Eats a Burger

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for gossip rags (and Fox News), with a number of celebs behaving badly and making headlines for it. A tape was leaked of actor Christian Bale exploding into an expletive-filled rage when a lighting technician dared to enter his line of vision during a scene. Similarly, a photo was leaked of gold medalist Michael Phelps smoking marijuana, and he subsequently lost his multi-million dollar Kellogg’s endorsement deal. Baseball star Alex Rodriguez was revealed to have tested positive for steroids in 2003. And Jessica Simpson had the audacity to gain a few pounds and appear in public afterwards.

Which one of these is not like the others?

All four are in the public eye. All are in the position to be role models and appeal to a younger generation because of their choice of movie roles (Bale as Batman), their target demographic (Simpson’s adolescent and teenage fan base), or their exceptional success in American sports, whose most enthralled audience is often young people.

Here’s the difference: The behavior of Phelps, Bale and Rodriguez is worthy of criticism. They acted like jerks. They took their fame for granted and trusted that their behind-closed-doors slip-ups would not be revealed publically. They discovered they didn’t have the immunity they thought they did. In some cases, they acted illegally. In all cases they forgot or ignored their fans, particularly young male fans who look up to them.

Jessica Simpson, on the other hand, did nothing illegal, nothing deserving of the vitriolic slamming she received. In fact, her weight gain (if it can even be called that – according to People magazine, she currently weighs 135 pounds, up from 110 when she filmed the Dukes of Hazzard in 2005, a role for which she endured three-hour workouts daily and a diet of steamed vegetables) sends a positive message to her fans.

The starvation diet to which she subjected herself so that she could look hot in Daisy Dukes was the problem. Eating a burger and fries (People magazine caught her in the act! The burger was over 1,000 calories!) is not a problem. Eating some greasy food is not equivalent to smoking marijuana or taking anabolic steroids. Yet Simpson received double the press of the three bad boys. A very quick deconstruction of that dynamic: Boys will be boys, yet women must be sexual-but-squeaky clean, so disciplined that they conquer even biology, starving and exercising their bodies down to nothing.

For the Chicago Tribune, Rex W. Huppke whines on behalf of the news media: “Once again, aspersions are heaped upon us for simply doing our jobs.” To Huppke, reporting on a star’s fluctuating weight is the media’s job, and anyway (female) celebrities are paid to look good, and use their bodies to achieve fame – what right do they have to complain when their bodies are used against them?

Make no mistake, it is not for Jessica Simpson that I lament here. Sure, I feel for her – according to the Grand Rapids Press, she completely bombed a concert there on Thursday, to the point of near-tears. One can conjecture the reason for that. I can only hope Simpson will retain some perspective in the midst of this mess. But more so I lament a culture that treats its women this way – a culture that tells women they must be on guard at all times against the humiliating experience of having fat on their bodies. That happiness is secondary to physical beauty. That no matter how talented you are (and, unlike other pop stars, Simpson has talent, especially when she sings ballads instead of poppy tunes that don’t showcase her voice), it doesn’t mean a thing if you dare eat like, and look like, a human being.

What Huppke fails to see is what’s behind all this Simpson fat-shaming. Maybe he doesn’t want to see it. It’s not pretty. It’s a nasty, diet-obsessed, beauty-obsessed, profit-and-patriarchy-driven society that treats fat people as less than human and produces statistics like this one: 77 percent of girls aged 11-14, when surveyed, describes themselves as “fat” and “ugly.”

It was the same story with Jennifer Love Hewitt a year ago. Sadly, Hewitt immediately began dieting and lost 20 pounds, and was thus showered with adulation for her dedication. It will continue ad-infinitum. It has to. Soon Phelps, Rodriguez and Bale will be forgiven. But Jessica Simpson, and really, all women, will never be perfect enough.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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