In the words of Lady Gaga, after facing a wave of criticism for her body at the Super Bowl, “this is who I am. I am proud of my size, and I love you and want you to be proud in any form you take as well.”  Rather than relying on pure talent, the media has often portrayed that you need to have a certain body type and appearance to rise to stardom. Lady Gaga, however, has challenged these and many other societal standards while creating an inspiring and supportive platform for many people. Most notably, she inspired a once oppressed demographic when she came out with her hit song “Born This Way” in 2011 and continues to defy societal restrictions  with her support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Although Gaga has been the epitome of a well-rounded and unique role model, many have people still criticize the singer in superficial ways for either her looks or for her distinctive stage presence. On February 5, 2017 at the Super Bowl halftime show, Gaga performed a number of hit songs with impeccable dancing routines and incredible stage props. Essentially, the show was a big hit for its general set up. Honestly, it was quite difficult to find something wrong with the superb performance. However, many took to social media and on twitter to put Gaga down for details other than her actual performance. While showing off her amazing vocals and dance skills, multiple tweets surfaced using hateful hashtags that berated Lady Gaga’s apparently “fat” figure. After reaching 5.2 million tweets, Lady Gaga became the most tweeted about celebrity in Super Bowl halftime history. It is appalling to think that such an achievement was earned on such a hateful and belligerently unnecessary platform

What is worse is the fact that Lady Gaga is not the only celebrity to be fat shamed. Multiple women such as Demi Lovato and Amy Schumer have had to face hurtful words from digital assailants all over the internet. According to CNN, when a critic called Schumer “overweight” she decided to retaliate by posting a picture of herself letting all of her other critics know she is happy with her body. In Demi Lovato’s case, and like many other celebrities, she decided to fight back from Photoshop, a digital tool that is typically used to cut and trim women to unrealistic proportions. When a magazine cover made Lovato’s waist visibly smaller than her actual frame, it was then that she commented, “It’s gorgeous but it’s not my body.”

In my opinion young girls should not have to witness such exchanges with potential celebrity role models. Even then, we can learn from the classy pride in many of celebrities’ responses to critics. The perfect body type is useless and superficial when compared to personality and overall merit.  It is troubling to see how being a good person does not really matter as much, especially in the case of some of these awful criticisms.  When we have such influential celebrities address these terrible comments about these shared insecurities young girls have, it certainly does benefit in making them feel better and showing them the proper way to handle hate. However, when the media body shames these celebrities, she starts to wonder if her body is truly beautiful. She then asks herself if she will be held back or prejudiced in life because of the body that she currently has. I am immensely disappointed in this possibility because everyone should be comfortable in their own skin. I believe that if these celebrities we see in the media every day, such as Lady Gaga, continue to fight against oppressive and superficial norms while telling girls that it Is okay not to have a “perfect” body, then maybe they will finally start to believe it more honestly and naturally.