By Jos Truitt • @jostruitt • 14 years ago

Lady Gaga: “Pop stars should not eat”

Lady Gaga, Let's make a sandwich

This just makes me sad. Early on in a New York Magazine profile of Lady Gaga we get this quote:

At five-two and 100 pounds, with her hair styled into a mod blonde bob, [Lady Gaga] looked flush from a strict diet of starvation: “Pop stars should not eat,” she pronounced.

Gaga gets a lot of credit from feminists (myself included) for creating a pop art space where marginalized young people who feel like freaks and weirdos can be at home. So it’s disappointing to see her speak so flippantly about the dangerous body image issues and disordered eating that is supported and encouraged through pop culture. At the same time, the honesty is almost a relief – at least Gaga is being open about the expectation that female celebrities starve themselves. Now we just need to change that standard.

Boston, MA

Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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