09/03/2018
I was starving myself to fit into an ideal. I was a smart child. I was a scholarship child. I also had a music scholarship, none of which I thought were important; none of which I remotely cared about.
Have you processed that since and worked out why?
Oh for sure. Because I was bombarded with a narrative that had no alternative. There were never any women who were celebrated for their intellect. They're not given any attention in the press. I wasn't reading about wonderful astronauts or scientists or great musicians. I was just seeing highly sexualised popstars who were very very skinny on my tv, or I was seeing skeletal actresses. Their weight was obsessively thought about...
People have made me look white in magazines...It hurts my feelings. Airbrushing and changing my ethnicity is bad for my mental health, not just for the girls who are looking at it...It sends a direct message from the editor to me...that I am not good enough as I am."
- Jameela Jamil
