Victoria Beckham has spoken out about the consistent scrutiny over her body throughout her career, naming a specific example of a time when she was weighed during a TV show in the nineties.
She tells Vogue Australia, via The Australian: “I went on a TV show with Chris Evans many years ago and I’d just had Brooklyn, and lost a lot of weight after. It happened to my mum after her pregnancies. It doesn’t mean you have an eating disorder. And he made me stand on the scales to be weighed. Can you imagine doing that nowadays?”
And of the constant comments about her body type, she added: “I’ve had ‘Porky Posh’ on a headline, I’ve had ‘Skeletal Posh’. After I had Brooklyn, there was a picture on the front page of a newspaper pointing to every single part of my body where I had to focus on losing the weight from.”
Undoubtedly, Victoria’s experience of body shaming was unacceptable, and things have certainly moved on in some ways since those days.
“Nowadays”, as Victoria says, there would be an outcry if someone was asked to weigh themselves live on TV – but that’s not to say that body-shaming doesn’t still occur, regularly.” And she’s right, unfortunately, a whole host of Victoria’s experiences with body-shaming can be used to detail the pressure all women are still subjected to.
Recently, Victoria has been shamed for her eating habits, with recent headlines detailing her one meal per day, which usually consists of fish and vegetables – something Victoria told the publication simply means she’s “disciplined” when it comes to eating healthily.
“I eat lots of healthy fat: fish, avocado, nuts, that sort of thing. I do drink alcohol unless I have a reason not to. I’ll detox from anything for three to six months where I won’t drink,” she added.
[Editor’s note: The NHS recommends “eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportions, and consuming the right amount of food and drink to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.”]
As long as we’re happy and healthy, aren’t we allowed to eat whatever the hell we want? Why do thousands of trolls feel the need to comment negatively or tell a woman she is under/overeating when they upload videos of themselves enjoying a meal on social media. What right do others have to police and monitor the food we nourish ourselves with?
Meanwhile, the body-shaming directed at Victoria has branched out and encompassed the models she has used for her runway shows.
Over the years, women strutting down the catwalk in VB’s clothing have been scrutinised for being “too thin.” But these models are no different from other industry-sized models used by other designers. It’s just unfortunate that due to the high-profile body-shaming aimed at Victoria, there have been self-image consequences for an array of perfectly healthy, unsuspecting young women who simply showed up to do a job and did not expect to get shamed in the process.
