stephanie marie

I find it utterly disappointing and frankly disturbing how much my colleagues in the media have dropped the ball on covering this. It isn't insightful to dismiss people with eating disorders, which have the highest mortality of any psychiatric illness. It isn't a Smart Take to mock people's concern for a woman who has, very publicly, and very obviously, been struggling with a deadly illness for a long time. I understand talking about women's bodies is difficult and this is a hot-button issue that a lot of people don't know how to discuss sensitively. But this is a celebrity with millions of young fans whose lives are at stake. And her illness is being celebrated as not just normal, but aspirational. I also understand she personally has no obligation to publicly discuss this. And I agree with that, but only to an extent. Because by virtue of her fame, WE have to publicly discuss this and de-normalize it. This is a woman with 360 million followers on Instagram, whose face is plastered over Swarovski and Givenchy ads, who performs to sold-out venues worldwide. EVERYTHING about her is sold to her fans as aspirational, and it's willfully ignorant to pretend otherwise. Ariana Grande's art may be in "acrimonious conversation with its spectators." But anyone familiar with the psychology of eating disorders knows that this acrimony is not coming from a rational place. She may be angry about the public scrutiny, but that's because she has a disease that is telling her she is beautiful and thriving and everyone who disagrees is just jealous, even as she withers away in real time. It's completely disingenuous to pretend she has the moral high ground here. It just lends credence to her (patently wrong) claim that she is healthy and happy and look away, everyone, everything is fine. None of this is Ariana's fault. But it's our responsibility to call this illness out for what it is, rather than continuing to look the other way and write off the discourse as misogynistic body-shaming. And failing to do so is nothing short of a moral failure. Not just for Ariana, but for the millions of young girls who need to be told, in no uncertain terms, that this is NOT normal.