Celebrity Gossip Sites Fuel the Fire Over the Female Form

By Kelly Turner on August 27th, 2009

• Share
• Link to StumbleUpon
• 5 Comments

There is an almost palpable shift in the way the media is portraying women’s bodies, and how women are taking strides toward accepting their own.  Whether it be praise over a plus-sized model in Glamour, Britain trying to ban photo shopping, or banning rail thin models from high fashion runways, it is obvious that we, as a society, are becoming more accepting of all different shapes and sizes.

Of course, there are also still places that love the lean look: certain fashion insiders still advocate for rail thin models, and magazines still insist on slimming down the figures of their cover models.

These hot topics are often discussed on blogs, which are unique in that they are considered a news and media outlet, yet aren’t held to the same journalistic standards. They are biased, often unreliable, and can be written by absolutely anybody.

Celebrity gossip blogs have exploded in popularity by allowing fans into the everyday lives of their favorite star: their breakups, make ups, scandals, and just plain unflattering tid bits of info. I have to admit, I read them. I read them to keep up with pop culture, I read them to support other bloggers and I read them for entertainment.  And to look at pretty clothes.

I hit www.perezhilton.com pretty regularly, because, love him or hate him, he has info no other places do.  Recently, I’ve become disgusted at the comments posted about Mischa Barton, most famous for her role as Marissa Cooper on The O.C.  Mischa was recently placed under involuntary psychiatric watch. Although her rep never officially released the reason why, friends of the troubled starlet report a history of drug use, heavy drinking and suicidal tendencies.

Perez made a habit out of bashing Barton for years, nicknaming her “Mushy Fartone” and calling her an epic failure, hoebag, a perpetual train wreck and a tragic mess.  With comments like, “You may have gotten rid of the cottage cheese, but you’ve still got the cankles,” (in reference to an infamous picture of the thin actress with cellulite on the back of her thighs) its no wonder these young starlets have issues.  Being in the public eye is one thing, but having strangers repeatedly tear you to shreds for your appearance is enough to send to anyone into a spiral; let alone young actresses in their teens and 20s.

After Mischa’s release, and friends coming to her aid through comments to the media, claiming she was crushed and even suicidal over the hurtful remarks about her body, Perez backtracked in his more recent posts about Barton and claims he wishes her well, of course while slamming her in the same sentence. Many readers called him out on his insults and blamed him, at least partially, for her breakdown.  He has eased up on her a bit, but never officially expressed any remorse.  Guilty conscience? Doubtful.

www.x17online.com, another wildly popular celebrity gossip site, who’s vapid writer has a weird preoccupation with Lindsay Lohan, can’t seem to make up her mind on whether Lindsay’s increasingly shrinking frame is “hot” or “not”.  Day to day, comments on Lindsay’s physique range from worry to praise.  One day she has a bangin’ bod and the next she’s too thin.  The poor girl can’t win.  It’s hard not to notice her extreme weight fluctuations over the past few years, but when your whole career is now based around grown men taking pictures of you while making fun of you (see video, skip to around minute 3:30) to get a reaction, its no wonder her weight fluctuates as much as their opinions on it.

What kind of message is this sending? Not a clear, or healthy, one, that’s for sure.

Celebrities, especially young “role models,” have a lot of pressure to be good as to not offend the parents of their fans. Miley Cyrus knows this all too well.  But take a second and think about what they go through: taunts from paps, every aspect of their appearance picked apart and smeared across the internet, their love life turned public, and embarrassing moments relived over and over for others’ entertainment.

It’s almost like celebrity gossip blogs’ sole purpose is to tear down a star as much as they can, going after them personally for things like weight, and then wait patiently for their breakdown to report it.

Blogging is one of the newest outlets people go to get information- but they are a business like any other, resorting to what will give them the most controversy.  If calling someone fat stirs the pot, they are all over it, but will in the same breath chide them for losing weight.  These celebrities are children and young adults.  It disgusts me to think of the grown men and women sitting at their computer’s ripping vulnerable children to shreds for being too thin, then ripping them to shreds for gaining weight. This isn’t news, they are personal attacks, and it’s time these sites understand the messages they are sending to young kids- or at least pick consistent one.