When people look back on 2020, they’ll remember it for the pandemic that brought all of our lives grinding to a halt. But there’s also been a more positive story playing out. This year has seen the rise of a new type of activism, where high-profile campaigners mobilise their vast digital platforms to bring about real change.
Campaigns for racial and transgender equality have gained huge momentum as a growing number of people recognise they have a part to play in helping achieve reform. ‘Change is possible,’ wroteJameela Jamil on Instagram recently to her three million followers. The star of The Good Place, who is loved and loathed for using her platform to speak out, was referring to activistMunroe Bergdorf ’s L’Oréal Paris victory.
Munroe became the first transgender model to front a L’Oréal campaign but was dropped by the beauty giant in 2017 after she made comments about racism. But, earlier this month, she was rehired after Jameela reached out to ‘create a bridge’ between L’Oréal bosses and Munroe. ‘We were a really good team with the L’Oréal thing and I credit you with the strength and bravery to face that directly,’ Jameela tells Munroe, when Grazia joins them both on a Zoom call.
[READ MORE: Munroe Bergdorf: 'Cancelling JK Rowling Won't Fix Transphobia'](http://Munroe Bergdorf:)
Jameela speaks from LA, where she lives with her boyfriend, musician James Blake. His music paraphernalia is sprawled around her. Munroe’s dog jumps up and yaps as she logs on from her home in the UK. The two are friends and Munroe was a recent guest on Jameela’s I Weigh podcast, part of her I Weigh movement – an ‘education and allyship platform’ that promotes inclusivity and challenges society’s definition of worth through weight. This time, though, it’s Jameela in the hot seat as Munroe asks the questions. Grazia listens in...
Munroe: So, how are you doing?
Jameela: I’m good; I feel very proud of Gen Z. Everything they are doing makes me feel jealous because they’re so much more creative, emotionally intelligent and clued up than we were. They grew up on the internet; the way they mobilised the Trump prank [they disrupted his Tulsa rally via TikTok by getting protesters to reserve seats and leave them empty] – that was activism! I think the kids are going to save us.
Otherwise, I’ve been working hard on the I Weigh podcast and YouTube channel about mental health, activism and shame. With this stressful moment, where people can’t access as much help and therapy, we need to feel less alone in this struggle. So it’s a deeply personal podcast where we bare all. Even the most famous people in the world come on and tell me their hardest truths. It’s a mix of celebrities, experts and activists, all debunking shame.
It’s also a safe space for learning. We’ve seen a huge rise in people wanting to get more involved with helping others, but they don’t know where to start, or feel afraid they don’t know everything. Especially now on social media, we have an attitude where people punish you for your ignorance. We look at ignorance as evil, we don’t think of the fact some people are a product of their environment and we should merit trying, learning and growing. I’ve had to do a lot of my learning very publicly, I’m pro- learning, pro-growth. I deliberately show my workings out so young people who feel insecure about what they don’t know can realise that we don’t have to be ashamed of not having all the answers yet. So, I Weigh is a place you can come to if you know nothing about any other group. It’s mainly other amazing activists talking, who we are highlighting, so you can find great people from each community who can teach you how to support them.
MB: Recently, with Black Lives Matter, and before that with MeToo, we’ve seen people become more active and transparent about their own experiences. How do you feel we can keep this momentum going without it becoming performative?
JJ: It’s very important that we don’t allow this to be a quick trend. One thing that’s been amazing is that the voices who weren’t heard before are now being heard en masse. The fact that great educators, thinkers and writers from marginalised backgrounds are now at least being given these high jobs, and executives are being fired for their racism, we are getting rid of the rot and we’re bringing in new representative talent. I think that in itself is going to create systemic, prolonged change, but I think it’s also about maintaining holding people accountable.
MB: A lot of white people, trans allies and queer allies are finding their voice because the time we’re in is highly political for so many minorities and Black Lives Matter is gaining traction. What advice would you give to someone trying to find their voice and to keep it going past being a trend?
JJ: It’s OK if you can’t be out on the street holding a placard. But therefore you should make sure that you are doing the work online. That’s not just liking and retweeting – you have to be signing petitions, calling your mayor, calling your governor, calling the politicians in your borough. Make sure you act on whatever change needs to happen. It’s not about getting that Instagram shot.
MB: Activism is a machine and we’re all cogs with different roles. It’s all relative and we do the best with what we’ve got. You do a great job.
JJ: There are people so much more powerful than me who could do so much good but they’re scared of being cancelled. I know this because I speak to them on a daily basis. There are people so much more powerful than me who could do so much good but they’re scared of being cancelled. I know this because I speak to them on a daily basis and they all want to help but they’re so afraid of getting something wrong.
MB: I felt their pain with the ‘I take responsibility’ video [where white stars acknowledged their part in perpetuating racism]. It was so cringe but you could tell their hearts are in the right place and they wanted to do something, but it was lacking a call to action. The best thing to do is to do what you do and pass the microphone rather than speaking loudly yourself. It’s about amplifying the voices of people who’ve been doing this for decades.
JJ: I like some of the people in that video and I don’t think any of them had bad intentions, the problem is it appears very performative. Like you want to show people you care, rather than engaging in actual action. Nobody gives a flying fuck about celebrities and their ring lights. They want money and legislative pressure for change.
MB: Body confidence, diet culture and no shame are subjects you focus on with your activism. Where do you think the body confidence conversation is going next?
JJ: We’re stuck inside, eating pasta and banana bread. Of course we’re all getting bigger. Who cares? It’s our job to survive, not come out of this thinner. Something beautiful is that without access to all the salons, many people are getting used to how they look without loads of preening. It’s fine to love all that stuff, but not to the point where you find your natural face unacceptable.
I think our value system is changing; the things we used to idolise seem insignificant now. When the world went into a global emergency, the people who became the heroes and icons on the covers of magazines were the essential workers. I think we’ve had a wake-up call about who matters and who doesn’t. Our value system has shifted.
I feel very concerned seeing celebrities, particularly women, talking about their weight gain as if it’s something ghastly and I’ve been concerned about the scary rise in diet and fasting apps and detox products being sold. This is normally when they start to freak us out about our beach body. Because they can’t do that, they’re trying to freak us out about our survival-of-a- pandemic body. How fucked up is that!
MB: Have you learned anything new about yourself during lockdown?
JJ: For the last couple of years, I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to learn and I think that contributed to a lot of the mistakes I’ve made. This has given me space to really investigate, learn, read and educate myself.
I was so busy [before], I didn’t have time to really know what I was talking about all the time and I feel very grateful for this pause in being able to, hopefully, become a less problematic, less ignorant person.
MB: How are you going to take what you’ve learned about yourself in lockdown into post-corona times?
JJ: I think I’ll come out of this a more calm, thoughtful and careful person, more aware of the damage of having a 280-character Twitter word count. Now I have the podcast and YouTube channel I don’t have to compact all of my thoughts and that’s amazing. Now I have time and space for nuance and context, because without that
I got fucked on Twitter. It’s understandable for the public to not trust powerful people, so I’ve always known that everyone has always read the most evil possible intention into my every move; they always think I’m manipulative or I have an ulterior motive. No one can believe that I would genuinely just want to try and help.
Jameela’sI Weigh Podcast and YouTube channelare out now