Okay, Internet. We have GOT to talk about how we talk about people on Twitter. I know being thirsty can be fun and seems pretty harmless, but your thirst tweets could be majorly disrespectful. Especially if they’re about a 17 year old.
Singer/songwriter/all-around badass Billie Eilish is known for her distinct style of oversized, baggy clothing. When she stepped out in a tank top, people noticed, and definitely not in an appropriate way.
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Billie should not be a stranger to you.
Oh, you know, she only debuted her first studio album at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and she’s only got seven certified gold and two certified platinum singles.
Did I mention she’s done all this by the age of 17?
Because she has. Not only is Billie kind of dominating the music scene right now, she’s doing it before she can even legally buy a lottery ticket. Not that she needs one, tbh.
Billie’s been a huge advocate for mental health her whole career.
Not only has she candidly discussed her experiences with depression and anxiety, she’s also come forward about her experience as being diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome.
In a two-part post shared on her Instagram story, Billie was open about her diagnosis.
She discussed her physical tics and wanted to let her fans know that it wasn’t her trying to be funny or weird, but it was a symptom of her condition.
Billie pointed out that she’s also just a goof, and not everything weird she does is because of Tourette’s.
Speaking out about a condition with such a negative stigma is not an easy thing for any teenager to do, let alone one with millions of fans.
Billie Eilish is turning out to be an icon.
Her style is almost as famous as her music.
Billie’s love for oversized, baggy, and ugly-on-purpose clothing is well-known and well-documented across all her social media. I envy her wardrobe. Not only is she one of the most stylish celebrities out there, I bet she’s one of the comfiest.
It’s not all about getting to travel the world in comfy pants, though.
I’m sure that’s a bonus, but Billie actually has a really good reason for dressing the way she does, and honestly, it’s a little bit heartbreaking too.
Billie was part of the #MyCalvins campaign for Calvin Klein.
In the video , Billie explains, “I never want the world to know everything about me. I mean, that’s why I wear big, baggy clothes.”
Billie explained that she didn’t want people commenting on her body.
“Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath, you know? Nobody can be like, ‘aw, she’s slim thick,’ ‘she’s not slim thick,’ ‘she’s got a flat ass,’ ‘she’s got a fat ass.'”
“No one can say any of that, because they don’t know.”
Billie’s unique style makes sense when you consider it’s a way for her to make sure people can’t comment on her body.
That’s what makes what happened on Twitter this weekend so awful.
A Twitter user shared some candid photos of Billie Eilish being escorted somewhere by security.
They captioned the photo with a simple (and disrespectful), “Billie Eilish is THICK.”
Which is almost exactly what Billie was trying to prevent people from saying about her.
They weren’t done there.
Despite the almost immediate backlash against their tweet, they continued to share photos from this encounter with thirsty captions.
Billie’s fans were furious.
Fans were quick to point out Billie’s desire to not be objectified.
Many were also quick to point out that Billie is only seventeen years old, which makes a lot of the men who are commenting on her body and her appearance extra skeevy.
This is exactly why Billie says she dresses the way she does.
Her fans were obviously going to point that out, and many replied with links to the Calvin Klein commercial in its entirety. It didn’t seem to be very effective.
The original tweeter decided to argue semantics.
Technically speaking, 17 years old is only a minor depending on where you live. I don’t know about you guys, but “technically” legal is my least favorite kind of legal.
Her fans weren’t happy about that argument, either.
Even if she isn’t technically a minor, it doesn’t mean it’s open season on being a creep on Twitter. In fact, it’s never Creep Season on Twitter.
The original tweeter got real defensive, real fast.
They decided to try to quote some of Billie’s more risque lyrics to try to justify their reaction to seeing her in a crown in a tank top. You know, like people wear when it’s hot out.
They didn’t get away with that one.
Her fans argued that he actually missed the point of those songs, and that no matter what her lyrics say, it’s not an open invitation to comment on her body when she’s explicitly expressed that she doesn’t want people to do that.
But really, the Internet did what the Internet does best.
They shut the Twitter user down using the power of memes.
There was no shortage of reactions flying around.
And most of them were pretty good burns. No wonder the original Twitter user got so defensive.
Some more explicit than others.
Okay, the FBI probably aren’t going to get involved over some dude’s thirst tweet about Billie Eilish. But that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t.
Billie herself hasn’t commented, but we know how she feels anyway.
Beyond her Calvin Klein ad, Billie said to Marie Claire that she thinks, ““Fame is horrible,. It’s worth it because it lets me play shows and meet people, but fame itself is [expletive] dreadful.”
Can we all agree to show everyone, especially teenagers, some respect on Twitter?
Billie has made it perfectly clear she doesn’t want people discussing her body type, and it costs the low, low price of zero dollars to respect that and not comment on her body type.
She has so much else we can focus on!
Like her hit singles, her meme-able songs (Bad Guy edits compilation, anyone?), her modelling, and her world tour that’s currently happening.
On behalf of all of the Internet, Billie, congratulations! And sorry for the weirdos.
This obviously isn’t the first time the Internet has sexualized a minor.
When 15 year old Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown wore this backless dress at the 2018 Golden Globes, people online had a lot of super inappropriate comments to make.
W Magazine even named her one of TV “sexiest actresses.”
When she was fourteen years old. Society really has a problem with just letting teen girls be teens without having to worry about people making comments about their looks and their bodies.
It’s not just celebrities who have to deal with unwanted comments online.
Katie Wilcox, founder of the Healthy is the New Skinny movement, asked her thousands of Instagram followers a simple question — what comments have they received about their body that were unwarranted?
She immediately received thousands of responses.
Women flocked to her page to tell their stories of unasked for comments on their bodies that they received that obviously had an effect on them.
Many of the comments had to do with weight or body shape.
Exactly like the comments on Billie’s pictures. Making unprompted comments on women’s bodies, famous or not, especially if they’re underage , needs to stop.
