An essay on body activism in the wake of Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl performance, written by Samantha Volk from Illinois State’s Body Project:
Many people tuned in to watch the New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. However, if you are like me, you tuned in to watch the commercials and the famous halftime show.
This year Lady Gaga, known for being a social activist, gave a legendary performance. During her performance, many individuals tweeted and posted about her performance while others gave negative comments about her appearance. One individual tweeted: “Tried to enjoy @ladygaga’s performance was distracted by the flab on her stomach swinging around #SuperBowl.” Someone else tweeted: “Was waiting for a surprise guest but just got Lady Gaga’s gut.”
While these comments could have been hurtful, Gaga is not letting the negative comments affect her. She tweeted back to those discussing her appearance saying: “I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too. No matter who you are or what you do.”
It is important for our society to change our perception of what people should look like and focus on who they are as people. Gaga was at the Super Bowl to give an amazing performance as an artist, which she did.
If you want to learn more about how to say “No” to Fat Talk, sign up for Illinois State’s Body Project, where you can learn to engage in body activism and embrace all of the wonderful non-appearance related aspects of your body and others.
In the famous words of Lady Gaga, “Be you, and be relentlessly you. That’s the stuff of champions.”
