The final way we think it’s OK to attack women
MKR’s blow up showed that while we agree women shouldn’t be abused about their weight or personal lives, bagging them for their cosmetic surgery is fair game, writes Katy Hall.
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EVEN in the amoral cesspit that is Twitter, there are some subjects that should not be used as ammunition.
Sadly, the plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures of women on reality television does not seem to be one of them.
Take, for example, an argument that erupted on Wednesday night’s episode of My Kitchen Rules, in which two teams attacked one another about their physical appearance.
The tension between two teams - Hadil and Sonya, and Jess and Emma - had been building for some time before it finally erupted this week. Almost immediately, the teams went for the jugular and began attacking one another’s looks.
“Blowfish... is the blowfish asking for air? I’ve got a really good doctor you could go to that can fix your ugly face,” Hadil yelled at Emma before bragging, “we look natural; you’ve gone wrong.”
Emma returned fire by calling Hadil “Bubba Gump.”
Taking their lead from what was televised, one Twitter user referred to the contestants as “disgusting clowns” as the contestants already had, while another asked, “What’s with the chick with the duck beak?”
Rather than being a ratings-gold anomaly, the kind of pile-on that followed the blow-up has become more and more common in recent years, and has spilt over from television to social media and our everyday. Somehow, with weight, clothing, and sexual histories now (mostly) off-limits, we’ve arrived at a place in which plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures are the final socially acceptable rod to beat women with.
Just ask Married at First Sight stars Tracey Jewel and Davina Rankin, who were both dragged for their appearances on social media, in interviews and even on the street. For Jewel, it got to the point where she was so “extremely bullied” that she has since reversed her procedures.
At the time of their show airing, the lips, boobs, bums, foreheads and cheeks of both women were hotly debated among friendship groups, workmates, and social media users. Never once were their private decisions considered to be just that — private.
Bachelor in Paradise star Keira Maguire has copped similar flak over her decisions to undergo procedures after appearing on The Bachelor in 2016, and in more recent times has begun sharing screenshots of the abusive comments she receives to alert people not only to just how much they hurt, but also how little they work.
While watching MKR, a friend texted me a shining example of this new, somehow socially acceptable judgement. “I know I shouldn’t say this, but what’s the go with that MKR chick’s lips? They’re disgusting.”
I replied, asking if they would ever write the same thing about a person’s weight? “Oh God no. That’s horrible.”
And yet, cosmetic procedures are still fair game.
For the most part, a person’s decision to have cosmetic surgery or undergo procedures is a deeply private one, and something few outsiders can understand. And when asked about their decisions, almost all of — if not all — of these women have cited self-esteem or bullying issues as the root cause of their decision to physically alter their appearance. For Tracey Jewel, her divorce left her feeling bad about herself. For Maguire, it was years of not liking what she saw when she looked in the mirror and later, hateful comments about her appearance on national television.
To have those decisions then used as further ammunition to only make things worse not only seems ironic, but also intensely cruel.