The Jessica Simpson Thing
So, there has been a brouhaha lately because Jessica Simpson wore some crazy pants and OMG is so fat (wow, I had not seen the New York Post cartoon at that link; gross). But mostly this has all stopped being about calling her fat and has turned into a backlash over calling her fat.
Alyssa Caplan at AC360 has had it with bashing the “Hollwood fat”:
I tuned out when “unflattering” photos of Tyra Banks and Jennifer Love Hewitt surfaced on vacation, or when Britney Spears weight gain inspired teams of professionals dissecting photos, but never has this beloved pasttime of over-zealous armchair weight watching felt more out of place. Perhaps it’s a side effect of the recent culmination of a year of 24-7 “change” rhetoric being piped in to my ear, or the soberness I feel on the heels of record job loss numbers, but for some reason, today was the day when I could no longer stomach the particularly mean-spirited headlines and zings thrown around with reckless abandon accompanying someone’s appearance. The line of absurdity was definitely crossed for me on this one, and not just because I feel a little robbed of what could have been a celebrated moment since I do tend to believe (as friends of the singer allege) she wasn’t very happy keeping her weight at a rib-popping low.
And Ashlee Simpson-Wentz similarly defended her sister, taking a stand on her blog:
I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister’s weight. A week after the inauguration and with such a feeling of hope in the air for our country, I find it completely embarrassing and belittling to all women to read about a woman’s weight or figure as a headline on Fox News.
All women come in different shapes, sizes, and forms and just because you’re a celebrity, there shouldn’t be a different standard… How can we expect teenage girls to love and respect themselves in an environment where we criticize a size 2 figure?
In the comments, Lady Diane pointed out this article, which has a slightly different take:
I’m not telling you never to gain 10 or 15 pounds. I’m not saying that only skinny women deserve love. No no no. That misses the point. I’m saying don’t be like Jessica Simpson. You know, don’t be a no-talent shell of a celebrity with absolutely nothing going for you aside from your kicking body. Because guess what? Once that body goes, and it will go (as surely as Jessica goes for the last remaining Twinkie in her Costco-sized package of Hostess treats), you’ll be nothing.
I’m tempted to dismiss this whole “humor” article because of things like “ha ha, she gained weight because sh wolfed down Twinkies!” and similar asinine comments sprinkled throughout. But I do think the point—that she’s traded on her “hot body” for years and has no other talent, and that girls should aspire to do more with their lives—might not be completely worthless.
Wait, no, I take it back. After thinking about it for 45 seconds, I’ve decided that even vapid Jessica Simpson doesn’t deserve to be mocked (and accused of binging on McDonald’s and Twinkies, my god, will that well ever go dry?) for gaining a few pounds.
Oh my god, am I… do I… agree with Ashlee Simpson? Well, “Pieces of Me” is a really awesome song. Team Ashlee it is!
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Celebrities, Gossip, Jessica Simpson, Magazines, Media, Music
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At the risk of being mocked, I have to say that I do not agree AT ALL with the claim that Jessica has no talent and just capitolized on her hot body. Certainly her music is not for everybody, but that girl can SING… and she’s been singin’ since she was just a child. Also, she’s probably not as stupid as everybody thinks she is. That show Newlyweds was definitely designed for a specific audience and done with the intent of making her look like vapid, stupid Jessica, batting her eyelashes up at big strong Nick, but remember that almost all reality TV is scripted, and editors and producers can basically make you believe anything.
More importantly than all else — having worked in the music / movie biz for years — I’ve actually met both Ashlee and Jessica Simpson, and I think they are two of the nicest, most refreshingly sweet, polite, down to earth girls in the biz I’ve ever met.
Certainly she’s made some questionable choices with her career, but… I would hardly go as far as to say she has no talent beyond a nice body. Id’ like to see the author of the “no talent shell of a celebrity” article get on stage in front of thousands and belt out the national anthem. Then we’ll talk.
No mocking here, Jessica, I happen to agree with you. I don’t know anything about her because I am not a celebrity watcher by any stretch, in fact, I really couldn’t care less, they are just people. But I have heard her sing and I don’t think she’s talentless at all.
Also, she’s hot and I think she’s hotter now with the “fat” than she was before. The girl is smokin’. Haters need to shut it.
I agree that, once upon a time, the girl could really sing. Unfortunately, like Aguilera, she pushed her voice too hard trying to add dynamics by howling into the microphone, and ended up taking a HUGE edge off of her talent. She can’t hit high notes anymore, and she actually sounds like she’s straining to sing at all, which means she’s learned some very bad habits while singing.
She’s got a leg up on Britney for talent, but she’s already done damage to her voice.
All that aside, I think it’s horrible to focus so much on her weight, like it’s so horrible that she regained the weight she lost for the Daisy Dukes role. She wasn’t that thin before, she lost a TON of weight, and when she couldn’t maintain that weightloss anymore, they start attacking her. What a GREAT standard.
I’ll admit, I thought she kind of deserved it. The Dukes of Hazard video was so blatantly sexual (look at my butt! look at my legs! look at my breasts! almost a soft core porn) that I didn’t like watching it.
She and her father have taken full advantage of a “sexy” Jessica Simpson using sex to compensate for talent. She has made a ton of money doing it. This is why I have no sympathy. If it was a different singer like Kelly Clarkson or Jennifer Hudson I would say leave them alone because they are selling themselves as singers not sex objects.
Jessica helped make these standards that she is now being judged on. She was happy enough to make money on it and now she doesn’t quite meet the [somewhat unreasonable] standards that SHE helped create I’m just not feeling any love.
By the way I actually think that if she wore nice clothes (those pants were HORRIBLE) none of this would have happened. Jessica should fire her stylist.
If you wish to see a clear picture national body paranoia, look no further than the photo and “phunee cartewn” in the article. Sorry, illustrator, it’s not so much funny as it is pathetic. People laugh, but how much of it is actually being absorbed into people’s minds and stored in the “FATTIES R TAKIENG OVAR” center of their brain for later use in their online panicking/antagonistic shitfests?
Tis a bleak picture indeed, and I’m not talking about either the photo or the cartoon this time.
(I actually, grossly, think her father was more to blame for the “selling a sexual Jessica” than Jessica was. Gross gross gross. I met him at the same time I met them and was nowhere near as impressed).
Lindsay – I’m also a vocalist and I also agree with you about her blowing out her vocals. She has no head voice, chest voice only, and it did a ton of damage, similar to Tiffany. BUT. I don’t think that makes her talentless, I just think it means she didn’t take care of her instrument very well.
Porn stars are people: I don’t think that being sexual or sexualized should make it okay to be punished by prejudice. And the “punishment” never stays on its target, anyway: acid prejudice ends up splashing on the rest of us.
Yelling “fat!” and “porker!” and “Twinkies and Costco!” at the slender current version of Jessica is simply picking up a fear of people-like-me (and like most of us) to beat her with. I’m sick of ass larger than a size 8 being an indictment; it’s bullshit whether it’s applied to you, me, Jessica Simpson, or Ted Bundy.
If she’s done something hurtful or wrong, fine, call her on it. But call her on what’s hurtful or wrong, not on the size of her body.
Arwen, AMEN!!!!
The fact is, most of these girls, whether singers, actors or porn stars, have VERY LITTLE control over their careers and image. There’s a reason the entertainment industry likes ‘em young; ’cause they’re easier to manipulate.
I once heard a modeling agent complain about his “older” clients (who were all of 19 and 20). He preferred his 15 year-old clients because they “always did exactly as they were told.”
Jessica Simpson started singing professionally at a VERY young age. Her handlers were constantly telling her to lose weight and sex up her image.
Do you remember a song she released with lyrics that said “He’s irresistable/Up close and personal/I know I meant to say no?” This was released while her label and management were making a big deal over her virginity. To add to that, she was forced to work out and lose A LOT of weight for the video, in which she basically did a lap dance on a chair. Even then, her agent sat her down, played the video, and said “You could use some more definition here, in your abs.”
Between the conflicting messages, the pressure to attain a ridiculously low weight, the “Vrgin/Whore” mentality and everything else, it’s a wonder that any of these girls maintain their sanity.
Look at how much publicity that girl has gotten since that concert! She went from being a nobody recently to the front page of every magazine with this “fat issue”. That fact in combination with how egregiously unflattering that outfit actually is makes me think that this was a publicity stunt. She has garnered so much attention which her dwindling career needed. Because she has used tactics not based on her talent to drive her career like Newlyweds in the past, I would not be surprised if this was also meant to get the public to give her some attention. I mean come on- that outfit was so not fashionable, not attractive, and so blatantly emphasized her bigger hips, that I can’t help but think it was planned.
Michelle, you know it is just a matter of time before she’s on the cover of every magazine once again, posing in a bikini, with the headlines screaming “How Jess dropped 20 lbs in 5 weeks and you can too!!!!!”
Any publicity is better than NO publicity.
Also would like to mention that she started out on the Christian circuit, where she was pretty much rejected based on the size of her breasts — she was advised that she’d do much better in the pop world because nobody would take her seriously as a Christian singer. Niiiiiiiiiice.
You couldn’t have told me five years ago I’d be defending Jessica Simpson, but here I am –aggreeing with those PPs who a) believe she’s beyond a no-talent and b) believe that she hasn’t been in control of her career. In fact, I suspect she hasn’t had much control over her LIFE. I’ve read horror stories about how much her father interfered with her marraige to Nick Lachey (I have to wonder how many new marriages could actually withstand being filmed over the first year). I suspect dad’s been the one to get her to “act stupid” because every now and then, she slips and you can tell there’s an actual, intelligent person underneath this persona that she’s bought into and sold back to the American public.
What I do see is a woman in a pair of unflattering pants, but I’m loving the smile on her face that seems to say, “I don’t give a shit.” Go to gofugyourself.com and see just how often she wears clothes that make her look ridiculous — this girl doesn’t care! And I’m actually hopeful because the more of these “look how fat she’s gotten” cases I’m seeing (Jessica, Tyra, et al), the more people are coming out of the woodwork and saying “She looks fine. Lay off.”
Back to Jessica’s point — about how nobody would take her seriously as a “christian” (quotes intended) singer because of the size of her breasts. It only underscores the fact that this woman has rarely had any control over her life/image. I’m glad to see Ashlee sticking up for her (and Jessica often stuck up for Ashlee when Ashlee was getting dissed in the press.) If anything, those sisters might end up saving each other’s lives and sanities.
This is a very thoughtful discussion but I think it must be said that those are some very bad pants.
The belt doesn’t help matters either.
Long time lurker, first time poster.
thought you might be interested in This woman’s take on the whole jessica simpson thing.
Are some of these folks in gradeschool making a big kerfluffle about weight gain and a choice of pants?! The criticism of Jessica’s body sound like the taunts of 5 yr-olds and yet some people take these taunts seriously and make them headlines and leading stories. Meh.
It is so sad that she couldn’t be a Christian singer, because of her breasts. How very, very sad.
Thanks to the commentor who mentioned the Virgin/Whore image. I’ve noticed it myself, but never had words that encapsulated it so well before.