Western Media Cares More About Representing My Body Type Than My Death
I trust TikTok and Twitter much more than media!
I’ve been called fat my entire life. By so many standards, I’m not pretty. I don’t have good skin or long legs. My hair doesn’t have anything unique, and it started going white in my early twenties. I have a big nose which I used to hate as a teenager. I still get pimples on my skin but never felt in the mood for skin care routines. It took me a lifetime to finally accept my body and my mediocre looks, and to tell the truth, western media and social media have been quite helpful to me in this matter.
For the first time, I learned from some influencers on social media what a serious issue fatphobia is, that I wasn’t alone in my struggles with weight, and that the discriminations I faced were not my fault.
Following the fight of feminism in the west for diversity and inclusion, I got happy with every new milestone of the body positivity movement. I fell in love with every new plus size, person of color, celebrity, or influencer. And I felt I was getting media representation through plus-size models in fashion shows and body-positive movies.
Although I have an Iranian nationality attached to this plus-size body, I’m unsure if it gets the representation it needs.
During my life, I’ve seen so many protests rise in Iran, and I’ve seen all of them end in murder, torture, and imprisonment. I’ve also seen the international media either not cover these protests at all or, after a short time, there would be some anti-colonialism leftist Americans claiming that no matter what goes on in my country, it’s always the CIA’s fault trying to start another coup in Iran like it did in 1953. I’ve also seen the media give a platform to the Islamic regime’s lobbyists and apologist journalists who would dance on our blood and shamelessly cover the crimes of the regime.
Even in the most recent protests in Iran, which started on September the 16th after the murder of Mahsa Amini, there were articles here and there, like in the New York Times, which tried to undermine people’s voice and cover the regime’s crimes by showing the protesters as vandals, sharing very old and unrelated pictures instead of the horrible brutality of the regime’s guard forces which is killing people like flies in the streets, and even shamelessly lie about the purpose of these protests or the slogans people are using.
Yes, this time, the media did a little better than before in covering the people’s struggles, but in my idea, that was only thanks to TikTok and other social media platforms! I don’t care how much criticism you have towards TikTok and TikTokers. I don’t care how many times SNL makes sketches to make fun of the TikTok activism. But I feel like if it weren’t for all the TikTok influencers who shared our story, international media would have closed their eyes on our death this time too.
Some influencers might choose what they share based on the trends and consider what can bring them more audience; however, TV and newspapers surely decide based on what brings them more money and less political risk! And the latter is certainly filthier.
