holdontohope

a way that she is really only allowed to exist as a point of reference or objectification. Often, the beauty standards that bring large- and small-scale celebrities or influencers into the public sphere in this idolizing way are a product of the structurally dense “male gaze.” It is easy to resent this notion but harder to pinpoint the culprit of subsequent frustration. If we do not resemble the bombshell, we resent her for that. If we do, we hold onto hope that the public will maintain their lustful reverence of her. We hardly wonder how she might be quietly struggling with the systems that have elevated her, and we almost never wonder why we blame her for benefitting from them.

This dichotomy is easy for us to ignore because of the mediums and mindsets we engage in that dehumanize the bombshell. She isn’t allowed to feel insecure because, in many ways, she is still profiting from her image. For whatever reason, she has found herself in the limelight, and we subsequently place the duty on her to use it in a manner that personally benefits our own images.

The bombshell cannot photoshop her waist to be smaller without scrutiny in the same way she cannot gain weight without scrutiny. The bombshell cannot be stunning without also displaying some other superficial, desirable personality traits that align with who we want her to be. The bombshell cannot be human in the same way that we can — and, if she is to be human, it must be for the betterment of everyone else.

The bombshell did not build the systems that enabled her to rise, so when and why has it become her responsibility to subvert them?

By Victoria Dominesey

In the words of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: bombshell (noun) bomb·shell (bäm-shel) a) one that is stunning, amazing, or devastating b) a person who is the cause and object of sensational and usually widespread attention, excitement, or attraction

Imagine – being defined primarily by others’ reactions (stunned amazed devastated attentive excited attracted disgusted in like in love in hate turned on turned off tuned in obsessed obsessed obsessed) to you. She must be exhausted.

By Caroline Kranick