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Home » Diets that Work » Lizzo, Her Detox, And The Double Standard Behind Fan’s Response – Junkee

Lizzo is facing backlash for her detox diet, and for promoting toxic diet culture.

Lizzo has been facing somewhat unwarranted backlash since she shared a video over the weekend on TikTok, featuring what she eats in a day on JJ Smiths 10 Day Smoothie Detox. The Grammy award-winning artist was met with a torrent of hate in the comments and has fired up a tonne of discourse elsewhere, claiming shes promoting toxic diet culture. So, lets dive in.

A full rundown of Lizzos side of the story is this: After posting a What I Eat In A Day TikTok showing what shes been eating while practising a safe detox methods with a nutritionist, fans were upset at Lizzo for promoting detoxing, which, it should be stated, isnt backed by science.

Despite the videos accompanying disclaimer to not try the detox without doing your own research, and a second video in which Lizzo explained that her motivations for the detox was not weight-related, some fans were as quick to condemn, while others jumped to defend her.

Many fans were expressing disappointment that Lizzo, a woman many uphold as the face of body acceptance, promoted diet culture. This is despite Lizzo repeatedly stating she doesnt want to be the face of the movement.

In an interviewon David Lettermans Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Lizzo said, Im sick of being an activist just because Im fat and Black. I want to be an activist because Im intelligent, because I care about issues, because my music is good, because I want to help the world.

While its only natural for human beings to look for leaders, its not always helpful or ethical to give an individual a responsibility they did not ask for. We saw many people do this recently with Claudia Conway, as her TikTok became heralded as the number one source of leftist truth. It was a responsibility the teen did not consent to, and only contributed further to the scrutiny and abuse she was already being subjected to.

But, back to the case of Lizzo. Indigenous actor, writer, and comedian Nakkiah Lui spoke out on Twitter about how putting fat people, like Lizzo, on pedestals can be actively harmful to them.

Dont make other fat people your heroes, Lui tweeted. Worship denies humanity. Do your own journey!

Along with Nakkiah Lui, Australian influencer Lillian Akenhan, best known as Flex Mami, also spoke out on her TikTok, Instagram, and Whatever I Want podcast, about the serious issues around making Lizzo a tool for self-empowerment.

Akenhan is a Black Ghanaian-Australian woman and pointed out on her podcast that its not Lizzos duty or responsibility to make you feel empowered in your fatness. Whatever qualities you projected onto her to empower yourself, just keep thatThats on you, she said.

Now you have to recognise that maybe you never felt empowered with your body, but you created a false sense of security through this woman whos now a really convenient scapegoat.

BothAkenhan and Lui speak to the reasons why placing fat celebrities on pedestals is not the key to fighting fatphobia. Elevating celebrities to the point that they increase our own self-worth not only denies them their humanity, but it keeps us from checking our personal relationships to diet culture and internalised fat phobia two things that need to be done for real change to happen.

No one should be above accountability or criticism when they have done something questionable, and this includes Lizzo. Celebrities, especially, owing to their large platforms and sphere of influence should be more responsible with what they share.

The promotion of toxic diet culture is the bread and butter of many celebrities, and notable figures likeJameela Jamil have called them out for it several times.Whether its Kim Kardashian selling appetite suppressant lollipops, Iggy Azalea promoting diet shakes, or Cardi B spruiking skinny tea toxic diet culture and Hollywood are practically synonymous.

What Lizzo does with her body is none of our business, but she should be held accountable for her platform and what she chooses to endorse.

With this in mind, its important to note that detoxing diets do not work, body toxins do not exist, and TikTok has known issues with promoting unhealthy diet culture.

Fatphobia and unhealthy diet culture are not just in Hollywood, theyre built into our algorithms too. Both are so normalised that whole industries have been built to profit off them. Between influencers, algorithms, film, television, and fashion there very probably isnt a day in your life where you havent encountered some variant of fatphobia or diet culture.I myself was triggered into a relapse recently when, without any warning, I stumbled onto eating disorder TikTok.

Celebrities and influencers are not your friends, nor are they your role models. Most of the time, they are simply wealthy people who maintain their wealth through their talent, and large often-monetised platforms. And we should hold them accountable when they use these platforms to promote cultures that actively inflict harm on people, especially people who are marginalised.

Lizzo should be held accountable, but that doesnt mean we shouldnt acknowledge the nuances in Lizzos case.

Diet culture is a complex and systemic issue that intersects with class, race, gender, ability, and a host of other social factors and systems. If you dont believe that, consider the reactions to Adeles recent weight-loss compared to the response to Lizzo deciding to detox.

When Adele lost, and continued to lose, weight she was celebrated, and even literally applauded for it when she hosted Saturday Night Live.

A Google search of Adele weight loss yields hundreds of articles either celebrating her desire to pursue a healthier lifestyle, asking to respect the reasons for her weight loss as her own, or positive promotion of the diet and exercise regime she has.

Both Adele and Lizzo are women with incredible success as musicians. Whats the difference? Race. In headlines, Lizzo is slammed, while Adele flaunts and shows off and inspires.

Racism, fatphobia, and misogyny are all very much intertwined. So much so that it would be difficult to outline all the ways in which these three forms of oppression work together, even if I was given a whole article to do so. The easiest example to show how these three issues all feed into one another is the history of the BMI, which determines your healthiest weight by comparing weight to muscle mass and height.

The Body Mass Index was created by Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet in 1832 as the Quetelet Index, and it was created using data from predominantly European men to measure weight in different populations. As a result, any measurement created with biased data i.e. data only relevant to white men will produce a bias result.

If the methods used to create the tool are prejudice, then so is the tool. Its not difficult to look at Adele and Lizzos journeys to understand how much race informs fatphobia and body autonomy, just as gender does.

The fight for body autonomy must have more nuance, and until autonomy is more widely accessible for all bodies, we need to learn to accept that contradictory things can be true. Lizzos right to exist in her body, and do what she wants with her body remains true, but so does the fact that detoxing and promotion of detoxing can be harmful.

Neither cancels the other out. Lizzo has the right to pursue what is healthy for her body, regardless of what she posts on social media. But she can, and should, be held accountable for what she promotes on her platform, without the need for making her into a social pariah.

Ultimately, Lizzo is not the enemy nor is she the problem, nor is she even the solution or face of the problem, or a figure youre entitled to project your worth onto. Lizzo is a person with the right to do with her body what she wants without judgement or assumption from those who do not know her personally.

The problem is the fatphobic diet culture that is so rampant in every social facet of our lives, and we wont dismantle that cultural system by centring individuals in our discourse. Because while we squabble about our personal feelings being hurt without identifying the true source of the harm, the system oppressing marginalised bodies continues unchecked.

Merryana Salem is a proud Wonnarua and LebaneseAustralian critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out her podcast, GayV Club where she gushes about LGBTIQ+ rep in media with her best friend. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.

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Lizzo, Her Detox, And The Double Standard Behind Fan's Response - Junkee

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Home » Diets that Work » Lizzo, Her Detox, And The Double Standard Behind Fan’s Response – Junkee