The Disgusting Debate About Kristin Davis’ ‘New Face’ Shows The Incredible Hypocrisy Of Women’s Beauty Standards

Just one week after Sarah Jessica Parker called out the misogynistic response to the Sex and The City cast aging – you know that natural thing all women do but have to pretend they’re not - Kristin Davis has become the subject of a vile Twitter storm dragging her alleged plastic surgery.

It comes after the Mail Online printed a story about her so-called ‘unrecognisable’ look, using the headline ‘And just like that... Charlotte has a new face! SATC star Kristin Davis, 56, sparks plastic surgery rumours as fans claim she looks 'unrecognizable' in new HBO spinoff trailer.’

Yikes.

Featuring a whole host of commentary about the SATC women since the And Just Like That trailer was released last week, the tabloid reported that many were calling out Kristin for ‘awful plastic surgery’ and damning her for not aging naturally.

Kristin has been open about struggling with body image issues in recent years, telling AOL in 2018 that ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say that [beauty standards] don't concern me or that I don’t think about them, but on the other hand, I feel stronger in who I am and that my body is my body and a lot of people love my body.'

'The truth is that it’s just part of our job. It’s a visual job, and it’s tough. You have to hear everyone else discuss it, in print, too,’ she continued. ‘Part of the reason that it’s hard to do is that you go in and play parts where you can’t avoid having to wear certain things in our jobs.

It’s been a stressful thing for me over time and hard to get enough self-worth where I can be like, "I’m just gonna look however I’m gonna look on screen.”’

That same year, she admitted to trying CoolSculpting – the controversial fat-freezing technique that Linda Evangelista claimed ‘disfigured’ her earlier this year – and said she typically looks for non-invasive procedures to tweak her looks.

‘I’m scared of needles, scared of complications, and scared of doing something that looks bad and not being able to go back and fix it,’ she told New Beauty.

Listening to her words, the latest reaction to Kristin’s face in the And Just Like That trailer should turn our stomachs. This is a woman who is incredibly open about her struggles with self-esteem, relatively transparent about changing her appearance and admits to paying a close eye to public reaction. How then, must she feel seeing this narrative unfold as the public not only debates whether she’s had plastic surgery, but how successful it was? Right now, people are quite literally picking apart the flaws of a woman’s face at a time when we should only be celebrating her reprising her iconic role as Charlotte York Goldenblatt.

Because regardless of whether Kristin has had plastic surgery or not, the pros and cons of appearance should never be up for public discussion. This is a 56-year-old woman who may or may not have had some work done, does that really warrant much shock and awe, let alone a full breakdown of how good the work was?

Beyond that, the reaction itself speaks volumes about expectations of women’s beauty when you also consider how Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon are being picked apart. Sarah said it best last week, telling Vogue ‘There’s so much misogynist chatter in response to us that would never. Happen. About. A. Man…” Grey hair grey hair grey hair. Does she have grey hair?” [Andy Cohen] has a full head of grey hair, and he’s exquisite. Why is it okay for him?’

‘Everyone has something to say,’ she continued. ‘” She has too many wrinkles, she doesn’t have enough wrinkles”. It almost feels as if people don’t want us to be perfectly okay with where we are, as if they almost enjoy us being pained by who we are today. Whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect, or whether you do something if that makes you feel better.’

The irony is clear. Women of a certain age get work done and they’re aging disgracefully, yet when they choose to age without any tweakments, they’re lambasted for going grey or developing winkles. We simply cannot win.

So how about instead of tearing apart the casts looks, we simply stop and watch the entertainment they’re providing us. Reactions like this prove why so few iconic TV shows go on to create sequels when the cast have aged: we should be counting our blessings, not women’s wrinkles.

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