This morning, Victoria Beckham appeared on Good Morning America to promote her new beauty line. Talking beauty tips, spice girls reunions and how she balances her family life, Victoria gave a rare insight into her home and business life. But it’s not what she was talking about that has made the news this morning, it’s how she looks. Sigh, to be a woman in 2021.
‘Please no more lip fillers': Victoria Beckham leaves fans asking “what's happened to your face?”’ the Daily Mail’s headline read this morning. ‘Good Morning America viewers stunned after Victoria Beckham reveals very full pout,’ wrote The Mirror. ‘Fans shocked by Posh Spice’s new look’ News.com added.
Essentially, the entire commentary on Victoria Beckham’s interview was centred around whether or not she’s had cosmetic work recently, and how fans feel about it. So much so, people are now Googling to see how she looked in spades – with ‘Victoria Beckham on Good Morning America’, ‘Victoria Beckham lip filler’ and ‘Victoria Beckham teeth’ now trending search terms.
As usual with social media, she was trolled incessantly, but it’s the other side of the commentary that warrants discussion: the cruel comments hidden as concern for Victoria. Asking someone ‘what happened to your face?’ is bad enough on its own. Most of the time, we have absolutely no idea why a person’s face looks different – it could be due to illness, weight change or any number of other sensitive reasons. But even when you’re sure it’s due to cosmetic treatments, you have no idea what is driving the desire to alter their appearance (particularly when it’s a drastic change). And if you feel like they're motivated by insecurity or self loathing, then to imply they look worse or attempt to embarrass them with these types of questions, you're only making things worse.
But it’s the ‘Please no more lip filler!’ comments that got me. In what world does Victoria Beckham owe anyone her beauty? If someone wants to look a certain way, asking them to change their appearance to fit your idea of what’s beautiful actively contributes to the high standard of beauty women are already pressured to meet. Rather than encouraging them to appear more natural, which seems to be the underlying motivation behind remarks like this, it only furthers the idea that women must look a certain way to please other people’s standards.
Social media has eroded the idea that we don’t actually have to voice every thought.
Beyond that, to frame it as concern for that person? It’s hypocrisy at its finest. If someone is truly a fan of a particular celebrity, publicly commenting on their appearance and implying they look bad through demands to change is not what they would be doing. Of course, it’s perfectly reasonable to think someone looked beautiful before cosmetic surgery, but social media seems to have eroded the idea that we don’t actually have to voice every thought in our head.
Ultimately, whether you like how Victoria Beckham looks or not is none of her business. For the sake of all of our self-esteem, the ‘What happened to your face?’ reactions need to go.
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