Successful women are particularly at risk of experiencing celebrity takedowns. When Travis Kelce has attended Taylor Swift’s concerts, people praise him for being society’s ‘perfect boyfriend’. By contrast, when Swift has attended Kelce’s games, some football fans have become angry, booed her when the camera pans to her, and suggested “She’s ruining football” online (Cherian 2024). With social media, it is much easier to voice opinions and share information in a brutally honest, fast, and efficient way. Whether it be true or false, information online affects public perceptions of celebrities either way. 

Female celebrities receive more hate and face more scrutiny. A study investigating online victimization of social media influencers found that over 70% of all influencers encounter some form of harassment online. However, when faced with harassment, women faced statistically significantly greater toxicity. Nearly 20% of women reported suffering financial losses, while men did not report any (Valenzuela-García 2023). Such differences reveal online sexism against female influencers.

Forever Support Not Guaranteed

Social media users collectively elevate celebrities when their images resonate with users. For example, after Britney Spears’ first single …Baby One More Time went #1 for 2 weeks in 1999, Spears became the “It girl” with constant media coverage (Britney Spears: Biography…). 

While some become obsessed with celebrities, forever support is not guaranteed. Contrary to the studies of celebrity worshippers, people do not always support their favorite celebrity when they receive positive or negative attention (Griffith et al. 2013). Once someone reaches this ultra-celebrity status, specifically women, it no longer remains entertaining to celebrate their achievements and the collaborative deconstruction of the idol begins. Spears’ overwhelming support came to an abrupt end in 2006 when she shaved her head and attacked a photographer’s car who documented the entire outburst. 

Source: Britney Spears’ Attack

Although Spears was struggling with addiction, an undisclosed mental illness, and a complicated custody battle, that did not seem to matter on social media (Britney Spears Finally… 2023). Social media users were not ready to see her as a multifaceted human being; Instead, she was criticized and torn down. 

Spears’ castle crumbled because she failed to align with her prior celebrated image. Schadenfreude, or pleasure or satisfaction in witnessing the failure, pain, or humiliation of another, ensued towards the star (Littler and Cross 2010). Scholars document how when a celebrity, like Spears, shows their humanity, publicly struggles, starts to gain weight, becomes a certain age, or loses some beauty, they can lose a mass of their following and endure public criticism (Littler and Cross 2010). In Spears’ case, she failed to comply with unrealistic beauty standards including daily makeup, having a feminine hairstyle, maintaining a trim figure, and having no tattoos or piercings (Watson 2022). 

Although all genders experience online bullying of some form, women specifically face bullying related to physical or mental health, weight gain or loss, and relationships (Walker 2022). Moreover, a recent study suggests nearly 90% of female influencers experience extreme harassment through life threatening comments, while only 10.5% of male influencers experience harassment intended to cause harm (Valenzuela-García 2023). Women should be allowed to struggle and still be respected. 

Why the Abuse?

People tear down celebrities for a multitude of reasons, but the widespread desire for social, political, and economic equality rises to the top. Celebrity worshippers may project jealousy towards celebrities they esteem because of the tremendous economic gaps between them. Due to the privileged life as a celebrity, and a perceived lack of ordinary pains and frustrations of others, commenters quickly become envious of celebrities (Burgo 2010). Critics are frustrated by celebrities’ success so they enjoy leveling these representations of unrealistic femininity through humiliation (Zsila et al. 2018). Commenters desire what these celebrities have achieved, so they devalue it and make it appear undesirable in an attempt to make themselves feel better (Burgo 2010).

Harm from Spreading Sexist Falsehoods

Although famous women’s talent and success should be celebrated, sexist falsehoods cause their achievements to be decentered and devalued (Walker 2022). People look at celebrities’ relationships to find desirable qualities in their idols, and then spread rumors to tear them down (Griffith et al. 2013). For example, a single article released in July 2023 claimed pop star Ariana Grande “homewrecked” her co-star Ethan Slater’s marriage. This caused many long-time loyal fans to no longer support her. With no concrete evidence, fans and non-fans turned on her.

Months later, the article was removed and left with a message stating there is no evidence that Grande did anything to ruin that marriage (Whitman 2024). It was later revealed that the writer of the original article created false statements from Slater’s ex-wife calling Grande “Not a girl’s girl” due to the author’s personal vendetta against Grande, with a long history of poking fun at her outfits and body (Bacardi 2023). However, the damage was already done on social media platforms like X as Grande has been continuously made fun of and treated poorly due to the spread of sexist falsehoods.

Is it Really Worth It?

Non-fans and former fans have treated celebrities with disrespect and heightened importance for the longest time. Realistically, people just need to put their phones down. Is all of this really worth our time? Maybe this is a good time to live our own lives and leave our criticisms for famous women behind.

References

Bacardi, Francesca. 2023. “Ariana Grande Gets Blasted by Ethan Slater’s Estranged Wife: She’s ‘Not a Girl’s Girl’.” Page Six. Retrieved March 11, 2024 (https://pagesix.com/2023/07/27/ethan-slaters-estranged-wife-lilly-jay-blasts-ariana-grande/).

“Britney Spears: Biography, Music & News.” Billboard. Retrieved March 10, 2024 (https://www.billboard.com/artist/britney-spears/). 

“Britney Spears Finally Reveals Why She Shaved Her Head in 2007.” 2023. Page Six. Retrieved March 10, 2024 (https://pagesix.co m/2023/10/17/britney-spears-reveals-why-she-shaved-her-he ad-in-2007/).

Burgo, Joseph. 2010. “Celebrities – Why We Love and Hate Them.” After Psychotherapy. (https://www.afterpsychotherapy.com/cel ebrities/).

Cherian, Sarah Anil. 2024. “A Swift Spiral into Sexism: The Super Bowl.” Westminster Cable Network, Retrieved April 8, 2024 (www.wcn247.com/holcad_and_campus/opinion/a-swift-spiral-into-sexism-the-super-bowl/article_07279280-e255-11ee-9cc5-13b8602e4f6c.html). 

Gerold, Elizabeth A. 2012. “Achieving Celebrity: An Anthropological Examination of Why we Consume and Desire Fame.” Order No. 1514528 dissertation, The George Washington University, United States — District of Columbia (https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/achieving-celebrity-anthropological-examination/docview/1030149500/se-2).

Griffith, James, Mara Arguette, Jeanne Edman, Thomas Green, and Lynn McCutcheon. 2013. “The Temporal Stability of the Tendency to Worship Celebrities.” 1-5. Littler, Jo and Cross, Steve. 2010. “Celebrity and Schadenfreude: The cultural economy of fame in freefall.” Cultural Studies 24(3): 1-20. 

Mills, C. Wright. 1959. “The Sociological Imagination.” Oxford University Press, New York.

Valenzuela-García, Noelia, Diego J. Maldonado-Guzmán, Andrea García-Pérez and Cristina Del-Real. 2023. “Too Lucky to be a Victim? an Exploratory Study of Online Harassment and Hate Messages Faced by Social Media Influencers.” European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 29(3):397-421 (https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/too-lucky-be-victim-exploratory-study -online/docview/2857171633/se-2).

Walker, Lauren. 2022. “Sexism in the music industry – how far have we really come?” TEDx Warwick. Retrieved February 23, 2024 (https://www.tedxwarwick.com/post/sexism-in-the-music-industry-how-far-have-we-really-come#:~:text=Primarily%2C%20the% 20majority%20of%20female,are%20or%20their%20b ody%20image).

Watson, Robert. 2022. “Appearance-Focused Social Media use, Unrealistic Beauty Ideals, and Body Image Dissatisfaction.” Journal of Research in Gender Studies 12(1):114-129. Retrieved March 27, 2024 (https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/app earance-focused-social-media-use-unrealistic/docview/2717878678/se-2).

Whitman, Sara. 2024. “Ariana Grande slammed as ‘homewrecker’ by fans as she addresses Ethan Slater backlash in ‘Yes, And?’” Page Six. Retrieved March 11, 2024 (https://pagesix.com/2024/01/12/entertainment/a riana-grande-slammed-as-homewrecker-as-she-addresses-ethan-slater-backlash-in-yes-and/).

Zsila, Ágnes, Lynn E. McCutcheon, and Zsolt Demetrovics. 2018. “The association of celebrity worship with problematic Internet use, maladaptive daydreaming, and desire for fame.” Journal of Behavioral Addictions 7(3):654-664.