We demand that MTV stop body shaming!
The Issue
Dear MTV,
On November 2nd, you used a clip from my short film to body shame a female athlete on “Ridicuolousness.”
I think we have a teaching moment! What is body shaming? Body Shaming is mocking someone’s body— usually as an attempt to gain social status, money, or power. Like if we are having an argument and I can’t think of a logical response so I make fun of your weight, or your nose, or your hair, or the color of your skin.
The reason blackface is taboo among the compassionate is because minstrel shows used ritual body shaming to manufacture a false ideology of white supremacy. When you use monkey-based metaphors to attack an African American, you are not only racist, you are a body shamer!
Body shaming is also at the root of sexism. If “the man” can keep you obsessing on your breast size and worrying about your waist, it might just depress you enough to not fight for freedom. Those menstruation jokes— do they make you feel dirty?— that’s the purpose.
It happens to men too! When you imply a shorter man is less of a person because of his height, you are a body shamer. When you suggest penis size has anything to do with power, status, or being a good lover, you are a body shamer. When you suggest that the size of a person’s hands has anything to do with the size of their heart— you have become what you hate. Can you dissent without becoming a body shamer!?
When you call a trans person “it” you are shaming that person’s body, probably because you can’t come up with intelligent words to describe your discomfort with the diversification of gender.
The reason Body shaming is so popular is because it works. If you go on TV and body shame a demographic, that group will lose power, and the oppressive ones will get power.
Body shaming manufactures consent. It gives others permission to pay it backward. It fuels racism, sexism, and hate, but in my view the ones who feel it hardest and strongest are the kids. A kid watching MTV might be in a good mood— and then the announcer on a show she’s watching teases a female athlete about the size of her body. Maybe the little girl decides not to eat that night— or the next— or the next. Is it too outrageous to suggest that body shaming kills people? Is it too outrageous to suggest that MTV stop body shaming?
I am one of your ORIGINAL AUDIENCE. I was at the scene of the crime when video killed the radio star!
MTV, It’s time for you to kill body shaming!
Sincerely,
Jonny Stranger
202
The Issue
Dear MTV,
On November 2nd, you used a clip from my short film to body shame a female athlete on “Ridicuolousness.”
I think we have a teaching moment! What is body shaming? Body Shaming is mocking someone’s body— usually as an attempt to gain social status, money, or power. Like if we are having an argument and I can’t think of a logical response so I make fun of your weight, or your nose, or your hair, or the color of your skin.
The reason blackface is taboo among the compassionate is because minstrel shows used ritual body shaming to manufacture a false ideology of white supremacy. When you use monkey-based metaphors to attack an African American, you are not only racist, you are a body shamer!
Body shaming is also at the root of sexism. If “the man” can keep you obsessing on your breast size and worrying about your waist, it might just depress you enough to not fight for freedom. Those menstruation jokes— do they make you feel dirty?— that’s the purpose.
It happens to men too! When you imply a shorter man is less of a person because of his height, you are a body shamer. When you suggest penis size has anything to do with power, status, or being a good lover, you are a body shamer. When you suggest that the size of a person’s hands has anything to do with the size of their heart— you have become what you hate. Can you dissent without becoming a body shamer!?
When you call a trans person “it” you are shaming that person’s body, probably because you can’t come up with intelligent words to describe your discomfort with the diversification of gender.
The reason Body shaming is so popular is because it works. If you go on TV and body shame a demographic, that group will lose power, and the oppressive ones will get power.
Body shaming manufactures consent. It gives others permission to pay it backward. It fuels racism, sexism, and hate, but in my view the ones who feel it hardest and strongest are the kids. A kid watching MTV might be in a good mood— and then the announcer on a show she’s watching teases a female athlete about the size of her body. Maybe the little girl decides not to eat that night— or the next— or the next. Is it too outrageous to suggest that body shaming kills people? Is it too outrageous to suggest that MTV stop body shaming?
I am one of your ORIGINAL AUDIENCE. I was at the scene of the crime when video killed the radio star!
MTV, It’s time for you to kill body shaming!
Sincerely,
Jonny Stranger
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Petition created on November 4, 2018