Jameela Jamil Gives Herself Permission to Age: A Refreshing Take on Beauty Standards
Actress and body image advocate Jameela Jamil has made a bold statement in her latest interview with 9honey, revealing that she has sworn off invasive anti-ageing procedures and is embracing her natural ageing process. The 39-year-old star, who is set to embark on her Australian speaking tour, "An Evening with Jameela Jamil", has spoken candidly about her views on beauty standards and the pressures faced by women in the entertainment industry.
According to 9honey, Jamil feels "very, very sad" about the current beauty standard that expects women to "look young forever". She believes that this fixation on being thin and young causes women to lose focus on achieving their dreams and instead, invest their energy in trying to conform to unrealistic beauty ideals. Jamil’s sentiments are echoed in her own experiences, having previously battled with an eating disorder and mental ill health. As she notes, "I’m not going to judge anyone. I’m lucky to be one of the people who survived and recovered, but at the same time, I didn’t know anything," [1].
Jamil’s advocacy work focuses on challenging women’s tendency for "obedience" in the face of such impossible beauty standards. She wants women to recognise that when they feel a call to make themselves try to look 19 or 21 forever, they are being obedient to a system that is designed to control them. "We need to challenge that obedience in ourselves because it’s beaten into us," she says [2]. This message is one that Jamil will be sharing with her audience during her upcoming speaking tour, which promises to be "very raw, very unfiltered, very disobedient and very encouraging of mass disobedience, specifically women".
In her interview with 9honey, Jamil also touched on the topic of social media and its impact on young women. While she acknowledges that social media has taken the impossible beauty standards projected to women around the world via magazines and placed them in our hands 24/7 via smartphones, she also believes that it can be a powerful tool for creating safe spaces for discussion and promoting positive change. "I think for me, I just try to create safe space pockets, that’s what I try to do," she says [3]. Jamil’s approach to social media is refreshing, and her commitment to promoting body positivity and self-acceptance is inspiring.
When it comes to protecting younger women from the harm caused by unrealistic beauty standards, Jamil warns against preaching to them. Instead, she suggests that we should be asking them questions, such as "Why do you think that? And why do you want to be so skinny? And where does that come from? And why do you feel this way about yourself?" [4]. This approach, she believes, can help young women to think critically about the beauty standards that are presented to them and to develop a more positive body image.
Jamil’s Substack, "Low Desire to Please", is a reflection of her own approach to life, and her desire to encourage others to question the systems that control them. The title of her Substack was inspired by a dog trainer who tried, and failed, to train her cavoodle, Barold. "He told me my pet had a ‘low desire to please’," she says [5]. "I was like, ‘That is my mantra for the rest of my life.’ I have a low desire to please. And so that’s what you will see from this tour."
In conclusion, Jameela Jamil’s interview with 9honey is a refreshing take on beauty standards and the pressures faced by women in the entertainment industry. Her commitment to promoting body positivity and self-acceptance is inspiring, and her approach to social media and advocacy is thoughtful and nuanced. As she embarks on her Australian speaking tour, Jamil is sure to inspire and empower her audience to think critically about the beauty standards that are presented to them.
References:
[1] 9honey. (n.d.). Jameela Jamil on giving herself permission to age. Retrieved from https://celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/jameela-jamil-interview-australian-tour-ageing-beauty-standards/0f7325be-8c4f-46d3-a665-85c0c564bf9b
[2] 9honey. (n.d.). Jameela Jamil on giving herself permission to age. Retrieved from https://celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/jameela-jamil-interview-australian-tour-ageing-beauty-standards/0f7325be-8c4f-46d3-a665-85c0c564bf9b
[3] 9honey. (n.d.). Jameela Jamil on giving herself permission to age. Retrieved from https://celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/jameela-jamil-interview-australian-tour-ageing-beauty-standards/0f7325be-8c4f-46d3-a665-85c0c564bf9b
[4] 9honey. (n.d.). Jameela Jamil on giving herself permission to age. Retrieved from https://celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/jameela-jamil-interview-australian-tour-ageing-beauty-standards/0f7325be-8c4f-46d3-a665-85c0c564bf9b
[5] 9honey. (n.d.). Jameela Jamil on giving herself permission to age. Retrieved from https://celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/jameela-jamil-interview-australian-tour-ageing-beauty-standards/0f7325be-8c4f-46d3-a665-85c0c564bf9b
