The Good Place actress, Jameela Jamil is currently in the middle of a superheated Twitter feud with model, Sara Sampaio, about body-shaming and it needs to be discussed.
Most of us recognize Jameela Jamil for playing Tahani in “The Good Place”. But she is far more than that!
IRL, Jameela is fighting the good fight!
She’s an outspoken activist, waging war on society’s unrealistic beauty standards.
So, in typical Jameela-fashion, she recently tweeted this:
The problem is, she called typical fashion models “long-starved terrified teenagers,” which didn’t exactly sit well with everybody.
One model in particular, Sara Sampaio, decided to fire back at Jameela for her “hypocrisy”.
“How about celebrating someone without bringing other people down?,” she tweeted.
“Calling runway models ‘long-starved terrified teenager’ is extremely offensive,” she continued.
“From someone that is always preaching for body positivity this just screams hypocrisy .”
She tweeted back, clarifying that she did not generalize all fashion models.
But also highlighted that there are, in fact, plenty of “long-starved terrified teenager” models out there.
Evidently, Sara had no plans of backing down from this argument.
“You didn’t say all models, sure, but you still chose to attack girls just so you can celebrate others,” she wrote.
“Eating disorders, drugs and cocaine use aren’t a [sic] exclusive problem of models,” she went on.
“It’s a huge problem is society as a whole. And when you talk like you know for sure majority of.”
She went on, pointing out that she probably knows more about the fashion industry than Jameela does, on account of her being a model.
And so, the battled raged on.
Jameela, seemingly trying to wrap things up tweeted back:
“Sara, respectfully, I don’t think this is the hill to die on. This industry is unlike other industries in that it makes professionals out of children, and informs culture and society, and is a standard set for young people everywhere.”
“Fashion is a dangerous industry for too many.”
“This idea that you should just be cute and not call out what is wrong Incase it offends people… is why change doesn’t happen faster,” she continued.
“We have to call out what is societally wrong/dangerous, however, whenever, we can, regardless of whether or not it is appropriate or comfortable.”
She then made this absolute mic-dropped of a tweet, pointing out that she used to be a model, herself.
“As is the all entertainment industry. And yet we don’t go around and say all actors/singer/ etc are on drugs do we?,” Sara fired back.
“The point of my tweet was never this one! I didn’t think it was necessary to add those Diminishing words when you were so amazingly celebrating something so awesome.”
I am amazed at how long this argument went on for.
Forget who’s right and who’s wrong — I would have been exhausted after the first two tweets.
This is what stubbornness really looks like, folks! But kudos to both of them for firmly standing by what they believe in.
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Jameela dragged Sara for using this argument as a way to defend an industry that has had toxic effects on girls and young women for as long as most of us can remember.
She encouraged her to find a better cause to fight for.
Their exchange went back and forth, becoming further and further removed from the original point. But Jameela concluded her argument with this:
She pointed out that Sara misinterpreted her original tweet in the first place. Jameela wasn’t dragging the kids, she was dragging the toxic effects the fashion industry has on young girls.
