She Made a Powerful Statement but One Little Thing Silenced It

I've been a fan of Melissa McCarthy since she played Sookie on the Gilmore Girls. Not because she was one of the few real sized actresses on the small screen at the time, but because even then her comic brilliance was shining through. It has been satisfying to see her rise to the top, gaining recognition and even an Academy Award nomination for that brilliance. I also applaud her as a role model for women who are struggling to accept and love their bodies the way they are.

This morning, in my daily Facebook feed, was a clip of one of her recent appearances on the Ellen show. In it she tells the story of meeting a critic who had written that she was only a good actress when she appeared attractive in the roles she played. He went so far to imply that all actresses should be pretty in any roles they played. During their conversation, Melissa opened his eyes to the damage he was doing to young girl’s visions of themselves with a statement like that. First she asked if he felt the same way about men and the roles they played and when it became obvious that he did not, she said something that made him see his words differently immediately. She asked him how he would feel if his daughter came home and told him she had not gotten a job because they told her she was unattractive.

Boom. It’s funny how when you make something personal for someone they suddenly ‘get’ it. It was a great clip and an empowering moment for women as McCarthy shared how she told him to

“share a little love and kindness in the world, and it does good things when you do that”.

In fact, it was such a powerful message that I was about to share it when I noticed something that totally invalidated the powerful message she’d given.

There, just beneath the picture and link to the article was a set of ‘related’ articles. The top one was also about Melissa McCarthy, and without reading anything, the headline destroyed her body acceptance message in one quick blurb.

There, beneath the words ‘a message everyone should hear’ was a headline that silenced that message by focusing on McCarthy’s weight loss and how it made her look ‘incredible’ and that she was now her own ‘mini-me’. I didn't even have to read the article. Just the blurb and headline had once again brought everything down to how the actress looked. And worse, gave those young girls she was talking about the exact same message that she had taken a stand against with the critic.

Why are women’s looks always defined by their weight. Why does the headline imply that she didn't look just as incredible before losing the weight? And why do we feel it’s appropriate to ever concern ourselves with what another person weighs or doesn't weigh? The woman is a talented actress and comedian, a committed wife and mother. Is her appearance truly the only thing the media can find to write about?

It’s sad that her powerful statement about body image was immediately chipped away at by the same old, same old media message. It’s also beyond ridiculous that no matter how many celebrities and advocates for positive body image take a stand, the media continues to ignore the message.