Has celebrity body flaw watching turned into a spectator sport?

Standing at the grocery check out yesterday I happened to come across The Enquirer, and lo and behold was this splashy headline, "ALL NEW PHOTOS! Stars With Cellulite." There it was in all caps and an exclamation point like it was egging us on,"CAN'T GET ENOUGH?"

Of course not! Because this is not the first time The Enquirer or any other tabloid highlights the physical flaws of celebrities, and they continue to do it because we (mass consumers) buy it. So, I'm asking now, has celebrity cellulite watching become a spectator sport?

Let the cellulite games begin
Flipping through the article, I could not help but feel angry for the exploitation these women are under and pissed off at the Enquirer for pointing out (with circles and arrows mind you) the flaws of these beautiful talented accomplished women like they are slaves in the Emperor's Colosseum for his entertainment. It's like the tabloids feel they are allowed or even entitled to humiliate celebs like this just because they are celebrities.

I do believe that part of celebrity is that your life is put under the public eye, but it does not mean that the media should have free reign to exploit the physical body like this for sport and profit. And even deeper, does our culture have some kind of celebrity body schadenfreude? Does your average consumer on some level take pleasure in seeing a female celebrity with her cottage cheese thighs and broken heart?

Even teenagers are not off limits
As a specific example of downright blood curdling behavior in this particular Enquirer issue, there is a picture of Princess Beatrice from England in a bikini with a water ski vest on. (The picture is also on the bottom right of the front cover picture above with a "Guess Who?" on it.) The Enquirer points out her "bumpy bum." The girl is 19, and still a teenager for crying out loud. All I could think is that this is the kind of thoughtless thing that could lead this poor girl straight into body dysmorphia and an eating disorder. Even a teenager is not off limits to this kind of tasteless finger-pointing by a tabloid.

Cellulite is not the only body flaw with a photo spread
Then, to make matters worse, about 4 pages later there is a spread of photos called, "The Curse of the Cankles" where they show more celebs who have the "dreaded" cankle, where the calf and ankle look like one. I flipped a few more pages because I sware I was expecting to see the "Muffin Top Monstrosity" article with the pictures of celebrities with the muffin top.

I know that the Enquirer is just another sleazoid tabloid, but these kinds of cellulite and cankle type photos are becoming more and more popular especially around the Internet. Remember how Tyra Banks and Jennifer Love Hewitt were "crucified" with fatty remarks. So, is it me, or is celebrity body schadenfreude on the rise?

Comments

[MizFit]

(I LOVE THIS WORD: schadenfreude :) not the meaning so much...perhaps it was sparked by the Ave Q song?)

I agree with you.

although Ive never been a MISERY LOVES COMPANY person.

[Susan]

It's bad enough that the photogs are looking for the body flaws, but it's worse that we, the general public, are eating it up! It's like fuel feeding the fire.

Then I also wonder how real those photos are. Photoshop can be used to slim and firm; it can be used to emphasize celulite too.

But, yes, it's the principle of the matter. I agree that the fascination with celebrity body "flaws" is shallow and potentially harmful to one's body image.

[charlotte]

I totally agree with you! I think this is a direct reflection of how little regard we hold for ourselves. We don't feel good about who we are and what we do so to make ourselves feel better, we tear others down as well. I tell you though, I've never felt better about myself than since I stopped watching TV/Movies/Fashion Mags.

[Jen]

I totally agree with you--it's cruel and exploitive. But...

Almost all of the images of these people that we're exposed to are airbrushed and photoshopped to an unattainable state of perfection. Flip open any fashion magazine and you'll see hundreds of pages of bodies free of the slightest cellulite dimple, fat bulge, or stretch mark.

While I don't like the approach--the cruelty and gleeful judgmental-ness is horribly distasteful, I do think it's refreshing and in some ways a good message for people to understand that what you see on the silver screen or on TV or in a magazine IS NOT REAL.

So I guess I'm torn...

[Cara]

Hmm, I've to say I'm a bit conflicted.

On one hand I believe that while these women are "celebrities", they're also people, for heaven's sake. And surely they deserve privacy when they're not working. I think the habits of the paparazzi are cruel and exploitative and such ridiculous invasions of privacy. What these people do on their own time is their own business, and how they look in their own backyard or poolside shouldn't be our concern.

But then, on the other hand, I can't help but think that we almost have a right to see these people when they are just people, in the realms of reality where they've not been glossed and sheened and smoothed into android-like states...and that it's reassuring for us to realise that they are just people too, normal women with flaws just like us, instead of the pictures of perfection we're led to believe from the screen and magazines.

I just don't know where the compromise might lie...

[Cara]

Ah, I should've read the rest of the comments BEFORE posting, not AFTER. Sorry Jen, I basically just echoed you! Great minds think alike?

[Alyssa]

If I were a celebrity and subjected to the kinds of comments they receive constantly about their appearance (and not just from the public, but from their own "handlers"), I'd be paranoid. (Heck, I WAS paranoid, and I wasn't nearly a celeb,lol!) The pressure to look "perfect" is insanely intense. There are literally thousands of people waiting and hoping to do the jobs the celebrities do. In Hollywood, you are only as good as your last box office gross or magazine cover. It's a pretty disgusting business, and people are treated like crap.

[Rose]

I saw this cover this weekend while waiting in line at the store. I have never and will never buy or read a tabloid (seriously) so I don't support what they are doing in any way.

I'm also kind of conflicted about it. On the one hand I agree with you, we shouldn't judge and be judged in this way. It doesn't make me think less of the celebs shown, I actually empathize (how humiliating that would be!). I sure as h*ll don't think women should be followed around with superzoom lenses intruding on their private lives.

As for the photos themselves, it's like those photos of celebs without makeup. It makes you sigh a little with relief - they aren't gods, they're just normal people under all their expensive clothes and tons of makeup! I think it's the backlash of all the over-photoshopped photos and plastic surgery perfection. *They* sell an ideal that doesn't even exist to women, to young girls, etc...It would be nice if there was a realistic in-between represented!

[Stephanie Quilao]

I can appreciate the un-touched photos of the celebs in their every day "normal" lives like the rest of us. However, there is a difference between just showing pics of them without makeup going to the grocery store and highlighting their cellulite and cankles in a specific article just about their body flaws like it's some carnival freak show display. This is what I don't like. We can see an untouched photo of Mischa Barton and see that she has cellulite like the rest of us, but when it gets to the point where all they focus on is her body flaws that is what contributes (to me) to younger girls and women learning that no matter what you are judged by your appearance, and that people can still be cruel like we never graduated from high school.

The shot of Princess Beatrice really go my blood boiling because the girl is only 19. This is the kind of thing that could stick in a teenager's psyche for life, and the tabs don't think about stuff like that. They just think sell more papers and ads. They are affecting real lives here.

[Leslie]

Good call on posting about this - and I'm glad others are being honest about the conflicted feelings. I actually saw a clip of Kim Kardashian getting a celullite treatment on TV and while part of me was horrified that she would let cameras film her cellulite, part of me felt this bizarre, smug satisfaction and hoped the whole world could see it. Like, to prove to men that all women have this stuff (I know you don't Steph, but 99% do, ya know) and eff you all for making us real women try to live up to some impossible standard. But I agree, the cover photo is morally hideous.

[Cynthia]

Great post!! I linked to you on my blog! It is about celebrities and fitness but ONLY the good and positive! I hope it can inspire or give others tips and secrets on how to stay healthy and not go overboard with dangerous diets and pills. I think you're on the right track and that looking for flaws in these seemingly "flawless" people has definitely become more of a sport and I think we will see more of this to come.