You may bitch and moan to anyone who will listen about how you think Lena Dunham has a bad ass, but that only makes her more of a badass, and makes you sound like kind of a jackass.
There’s of course the lack of regard for another human being when you make a derisive comment about their appearance. I still don’t understand how some people think this kind of talk is ok. Besides that, there’s also the hypocrisy because let’s face it: you’re not Tommy Tune yourself.
But neither of those are the main issue here. The underlying issue beneath anyone who feels like it’s totally cool to publically declare someone an uggo is that there’s an implication that said “uggo” ought to be ashamed of how they look. Again, there’s history to certain groups of society imposing shame on other groups. The most powerful way to respond to this imposition is the repeated insistence that you won’t be ashamed. This can be expressed through the refusal to compromise on the display of one’s identity. If it’s a woman’s body being shamed, displaying it without shame is a defiant and powerful action—precisely a refusal to recognize the power of someone’s attempt at shaming you into hiding.
So when Lena Dunham plays ping pong in nothing but her underwear, there’s a certain heroism to it, not only because of the fact that people will try to shame her out of it, but also in opposition to the macro level of societal shame that gets imposed on the majority of the population that doesn’t align with the very narrow definition that is show business attractiveness. It’s more subtle than political civil rights arguments, but it still represents the attitude of “I’m here. Deal with it.” That’s way more badass than sitting at a computer spewing impotent disdain.
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Published: Jan 16, 2014 10:25 am