Will Smith’s slap

After a year of hiatus from activities due to Covid, I have just decided to exercise again. Partly to improve health, partly because of receiving many comments about appearance. People tactfully said from near and far, “What’s new after Tet?”; who went straight to the question “Why is there so much fat lately”.

With a body mass index (BMI) of 21, I don’t consider myself to be oversized. I myself don’t pay much attention to people’s appearance. Once at a meeting, I happily talked to a female friend without knowing she was about to give birth to a baby. Worked for almost a year with the same colleague, but I didn’t know she fixed her nose while everyone said “just look at it”. I tend to focus more on what they say than on their bodies, so I don’t notice the change.

The phenomenon of body shaming or, more seriously, body shaming is generally believed to be more common in East Asia, where people are more inclined to live by collective standards and therefore, deviant factors. prepare to be more easily noticed. The need to show off photos on social networks and the wave of Korean movies with flawless men and women seems to contribute to the perfect beauty craze. Developing photography applications becomes a lucrative market, especially in China and India – places with a large number of Internet users. A top popular “virtual life” application still reaches more than 300 million downloads, despite recent warnings about stealing user data and spreading malicious code.

But in fact, disparaging looks is not a problem of only one region or region. In 2020, data analytics company YouGov interviewed nearly 10,000 people in Europe on the topic. About 36% of respondents said that they had been victims of visual disparagement no less than 10 times. Nearly half of adults in the UK complain they are annoyed by being judged on their appearance, be it because of their weight, their hair or even the size of their feet. Even in Italy, the fashion capital of the world, 43% of interviewees said they felt pressured by society’s beauty standards.

In the US, the story of disparaging looks is hotter than ever after rare slap at the Oscars ceremony on the morning of March 28. Actor Will Smith reacted strongly on stage to host Chris Rock after his wife was made fun of by Chris because of her bald head. This is the most ungrateful joke in Oscar history because it is clearly disparaging for appearance. Will Smith’s actions set out series of questions valuable for both showbiz and ordinary people: when bullied, what is the “righteous” reaction of a celebrity at a public event, and whether “slap in the mouth” is acceptable as a solution to thoroughly solve the problem of stigma?

In fact, the majority of victims of physical abuse choose to remain silent or smile wryly to avoid offending people who comment on their appearance. Because, ironically, jokes and comments often come from close acquaintances such as friends and colleagues. Adults can easily dismiss it with the excuse of an unintentional habit or polite remarks. However, for young people, stigmatizing their appearance can deeply hurt their ability to socialize, destroy their self-confidence and even their lives.

I also wondered and was startled many times when I accidentally expressed my attitude to a relatively private issue of the opposite person. So, to me, it’s a waste if the case at the prestigious Oscars is only concerned as a kind of “drama” of the showbiz world. I read a very clear line between healthy parody and amusing others.

Any one of us could fall victim to hurtful pranks one day. It can not only stop at looks but also touches on such delicate and big issues as cultural differences, individual happiness and dignity.

Violence is never the solution to problems. But on the other hand, stopping forms of personal attack while they are still in the germ or hiding as “a joke”, is the right thing to do.

Cam Ha