There are few times I feel completely appalled with humanity, but today is unfortunately one of those days. As I scrolled through the various Snapchat stories of major publications, I came across something that at first seemed like a hoax. This article, if you can even call it that, was called "Winter's last days of summer." The sexist piece of writing basically repeats over and over again how revealing Winter's outfit was at a recent party in Malibu, California.
Phrases like "revealing outfit" and "Confident: Ariel's white underwear was distinctly visible underneath her lacy shorts," litter this article. About halfway through reading, I saw quotes pulled from Winter herself about how she has gained confidence in her body type and therefore has chosen to ignore those who criticize her weight. This out-of-place addition to the piece confused me, considering how much the anonymous writer chose to focus on the amount of clothing she wore.
Was this an attempt to cover up the overall body-shaming of the article in case someone held he/she accountable? I always try to give other the benefit of the doubt, but the tone I received from this article was a mixture of mockery, ignorance, and a lack of class. Later on in the article, the writer highlights Winter's casual outfit of sweatpants and a tank top later on in the week, which also seemed strange to add, and to me, appeared as another way to say the piece was anything other than a mild form of teasing.
I think that Ariel Winter's all-white ensemble looked great on her. Was it a little revealing? Yes. Did it deserve an entire article devoted to how extremely scandalous it was? Heck no! (Disclaimer: words shown in italics are meant to be read with a heavy dose of sarcasm.) Her outfit wasn't any more revealing than something one of my friends back home would wear to a beach party. The fact that someone felt the need to drone on and on about how little clothing Winter decided to wear both confuses and annoys me to no end.
Let girls wear what they would like to wear. I'm not usually the first person to pull the feminism card, but I also don't believe that a journalism degree should be wasted on petty opinions about a teenager's outfit. I'm proud to say I live in a time where women are being celebrated for embracing their bodies. However, some instances such as this one slip through the cracks. Now, with that food for thought, I'll disappear into the background, metaphorically carrying a boom box on my shoulder blasting "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. For future reference, leave the outfit shaming for the Middle Ages.
