“I am not particularly interest-ed in beauty. I think it’s be-come this sort of poison for women to drink,” Jameela Jamil tells me over the phone. It’s perhaps an odd thing to declare, since I’ve ostensibly called her to talk about her beauty routine. Jamil recognises the dissonance. An accomplished actor, performer, radio DJ and former model, she has, for years, been an outspoken advocate against what she considers the unfair beauty standards to which women are held.
Sure, beauty can be fun, artistic and rooted in self-care. And looking good can also feel good. (Who doesn’t feel great after applying the perfect red lip or putting some concealer on a blemish that could have threatened to ruin your day?) But as a 532 billion-dollar industry, is beauty about making sure we have access to glitter eyeshadows and highlighters, or is it rooted in making women feel bad about themselves and promising them products that will help? That’s what Jamil wonders, at least.
Her relationship with the issue is personal. Like many, she has been scrutinised for her looks from a young age. At 26, she gained weight due to medication and was repeatedly fat-shamed in public. A radio DJ at the time, she says, “I was on the cover of every magazine; pictures of my bottom, pictures of my thighs, pictures comparing me to when I was thin...always framing a narrative as if I was unhappy.” But she wasn’t unhappy, and this was a scrutiny her male colleagues were not exposed to.
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