Sex sells: How Billie Eilish is shaking not her booty, but societal norms
Bodysuits, twerking, cleavage, sultry Insta posts. Ok, now how many female identifying performers in this day and age DON’T do any of these things. Sex sells, and that will probably be true until the end of time. Or at least until sex appeal isn’t the main thing that keeps female performers like Ariana Grande and Cardi B in the “mainstream”. There is one performer who has decided to take societal norms by the horns and make a stand for herself in this world of sex appeal. Billie Eilish. I know there are many performers that I could also name but here’s why I chose Billie; she is absolutely hot stuff right now! Her “Where do we go?” world tour is already sold out in U.S. locations. She is completely adored and streamed by thousands of people and guess what, she has yet to even show a fleck of cleavage or booty or even thigh for that matter. That is a feat to me.
I am a Cardi B fan. Her backstory and history makes her who she is, and her body does as well. She flaunts, struts and shakes every chance she gets it seems like. This is the norm for not only Cardi B but alot of female performers. J Lo, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, all these really hot and famous female performers are always flashing some skin. At least in 2019, Billie Eilish seems to be embarking a new way of stardom, a way that encourages personal style, personal choices, and going against the grain.
In May of this year, Billie collaborated with Calvin Klein and their ongoing celebrity feature campaign dubbed “I Speak My Truth In #MyCalvins,” and it sparked tons of conversation about society expectations and Billie’s reasoning behind her fashion choices. Basically, people realized how heavily sexual appeal in the media impacted how they thought celebrities will or should act and dress. “That’s why I wear baggy clothes,” Billie explained, “Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath. Nobody can be like, ‘she’s slim-thick,’ ‘she’s not slim-thick,’ ‘she’s got a flat ass,’ ‘she’s got a fat ass.’ No one can say any of that because they don’t know.”
So what exactly is the issue here? Trust me, it isn't shaming other celebrities for showing their bodies, because according to Billie herself, showing your body is actually a direct way to receive criticisms and judgement from the public, hard things to take as a public figure. No, the issue here is what we dub as normal for celebrities to do and the reasoning behind that. Sex appeal has been the basis of so many celebrities and why they accrue so many fans since forever. Elvis and Marylin Monroe can surely prove as great examples of this. But really, take a look at a female performers while they’re on stage. They twerk, they show that cleavage, they wear little bodysuits they give in to the sex appeal they are expected to show. Media and sex appeal literally almost go hand in hand when it comes to celebrities. Even the news! Weather women are commonly pretty attractive now and days, and it’s not by accident people. We like to see attractive people. We like to see our favorite singers done up pretty sexy, we scream when they rip off clothes and we expect them to be this way.
This is why Billie Eilish, at least in my opinion, is truly reminding people that this is a social norm that is heavily influenced by social media and human instincts and that not every celebrity must be sexy or be naked to “keep fans happy”. It’s about the music. And her fans are all for it. “The fact that Billie Eilish wears big baggy clothes so that no one can make assumptions, judge, or body shame her makes me love her as an artist and as a person even more,” one fan wrote. “The fact that Billie Eilish wears baggy clothes so she won’t get sexualized really says something about our society,” another fan stated.
Media changes the social norms we have about celebrities, and it doesn't even stop there. Almost every “public figure” or Instagram “model” is always, always showing off his or her sex appeal. But that is another story for another article post. Sex sells people. Billie Eilish sells too though.
Thanks for reading.
