How can you explain the general public’s double standard regarding Avril?

[Zach]

Seeing things like this:
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Make me sad. Both of the women in these pictures are beautiful. But looking at this photo, I am lead to believe that because I look more like the image of the girl on the right, that somehow means I'm ugly.

Thank you. I think the same thing every time I see that image posted. I'm sure it's not the intent. But I've seen people get shit now for being skinny, which is doing exactly the same thing only reversed. How about we just let people be who and what they want to, instead of telling them "You should be like *this*" or "You should be like *that"?

[Annie Was Here]

Thank you. I think the same thing every time I see that image posted. I'm sure it's not the intent. But I've seen people get shit now for being skinny, which is doing exactly the same thing only reversed. How about we just let people be who and what they want to, instead of telling them "You should be like *this*" or "You should be like *that"?

I've always gotten shit for being skinny. Some men have told me they would never think of dating me because I'm just "too thin." Some women have repeatedly treated me in rude and insensitive ways simply because I happened to be more thin than them. Some people tell me that I'm "gross" and that I have an "eating disorder". People tell me to "eat a sandwich".

Now let's reverse it. What if I replaced the words "skinny" and "thin" with fat? I've always gotten shit for being fat. Some men have told me they would never think of dating me because I'm just "too fat." Some women have repeatedly treated me in rude and insensitive ways simply because I happened to be more fat than them. Some people tell me that I'm "gross" and that I eat too much. People tell me to "quit eating sandwiches".

What's the difference? There isn't one.

Thing is, it doesn't matter that a lot of these people who say these things to me are very much aware of my health issues that contribute to my weight, they still judge away. I always wonder how often or how less things would be if my problems were just the opposite.

[starnote]

I've heard similar comments-"Do you eat?" and "I wish I could look like you". Not if you knew the digestive problems and food sensitivities I have, you wouldn't.

[avrilxxx15]

The same argument can be applied to the "ideal" weight for women. You're either too fat or too skinny. People think being thin is perfect and people think being fat is imperfect. However, when someone does appear thin, they get shit for it, like a twisted compliment of jealousy or disgust. But when people are considered overweight, you're not going to hear a lot of people talk smack about them, because it comes across rude. Apparently the same standards just don't apply to someone of thin proportions. Image in cultures and society is fucked up, especially in the celebrity world, which millions upon millions of consumers have been gobbling up for decades. Men deal with image issues, too, but it's an exceptionally problematic situation for women with how the media has routinely portrayed us, making men see women differently and women seeing women differently and women seeing themselves differently.

Seeing things like this:
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Make me sad. Both of the women in these pictures are beautiful. But looking at this photo, I am lead to believe that because I look more like the image of the girl on the right, that somehow means I'm ugly.

Avril has unfortunately been thrust into a world (like many of us) that incessantly rips people to shreds for being who they are. Thankfully, she's done an exceptional job of pushing these ideologies aside and being an authentic role model for thousands of girls worldwide.

Cheers for your words of wisdom, I agree 100%

[avrilxxx15]

Off topic, not trying to slag off Adele, since skinny people is now getting shit for being one.. It kinda makes me think that her weight did helped her success A LOT! And judging by the comments of many on the reason why they love and admire Adele, they always drag her weight with it...

Even Adele herself did have comments about it that made my head shake....

Not trying to shit on her, although her voice's style is not my type ( to raspy for my taste ) she do have beautiful and powerful voice, Something that I admire ( and I am not a even fan, in fact she's one of my least like artist ) REGARDLESS if she is overweight or not.

[BogoGog24]

Yeah I was born with a condition that made me naturally a small and skinny person. No one is mean to me for it, but they make jokes sometimes and say I look like I'm anorexic or like I don't eat. My first grade teacher actually told my mom that she thought I wasn't being fed enough. The thing with being skinny, though, is that woman on the right looks like she is literally anorexic. There are people who are naturally skinny and naturally large who look great that way. But people who look like they don't eat or people who look like they eat too much, that's where they look unhealthy. If you can see someone's bones through their skin, I don't see how you can call that person "beautiful." For example, Avril is pretty skinny, but she is naturally skinny, so she looks very healthy because that is how she naturally looks. But if she stopped eating and she started to look unhealthy, well, she wouldn't be so pretty anymore simply because she just looks ill. Like I said, there are some people who are naturally large or naturally skinny but are beautiful, healthy looking people. Adele is naturally a large woman, but she looks great that way because you can tell that is her natural body shape.

[Annie Was Here]

Yeah I was born with a condition that made me naturally a small and skinny person. No one is mean to me for it, but they make jokes sometimes and say I look like I'm anorexic or like I don't eat. My first grade teacher actually told my mom that she thought I wasn't being fed enough. The thing with being skinny, though, is that woman on the right looks like she is literally anorexic. There are people who are naturally skinny and naturally large who look great that way. But people who look like they don't eat or people who look like they eat too much, that's where they look unhealthy. If you can see someone's bones through their skin, I don't see how you can call that person "beautiful." For example, Avril is pretty skinny, but she is naturally skinny, so she looks very healthy because that is how she naturally looks. But if she stopped eating and she started to look unhealthy, well, she wouldn't be so pretty anymore simply because she just looks ill. Like I said, there are some people who are naturally large or naturally skinny but are beautiful, healthy looking people. Adele is naturally a large woman, but she looks great that way because you can tell that is her natural body shape.

But that's where things go wrong. Could you look someone in the eyes with anorexia and tell them that they're not beautiful? What's that going to accomplish? It would probably worsen their condition if anything.

Could you look at children and adults in poverty who are not well nourished and call them ugly? Or what about the starved in developing countries? Are they ugly to you? Or the people with genuine health problems, are they ugly?

The only thing that's ugly is the thought of even thinking that way about someone who is clearly suffering. I think they're all beautiful, and I genuinely mean that.

If you can see someone's bones through their skin, I don't see how you can call that person "beautiful."

In your eyes, I must be hideous.

[BogoGog24]

^ Of course, if people are starving or have health problems that make them that way, that is a completely different story. But calling "all people beautiful"- that's complete bullshit to me. Maybe facially or personally, an anorexic person can be beautiful, but someone's bones showing through their skin and looking like they are on the verge of death is not in any way beautiful. If we said everyone was beautiful, there would be no meaning or standard of what beautiful is. It would just lose its meaning entirely. If we call the ugliest dog in the world cute, how does that compare with other dogs that are much cuter? It doesn't. Thus, the meaning of "cute" is now completely lost. Beauty is subjective, of course, but there is a limit and a line is drawn somewhere about what is beautiful and what is just downright unhealthy looking. You can think whatever you want, but I am going to completely disagree with you.

[Zach]

^ Of course, if people are starving or have health problems that make them that way, that is a completely different story. But calling "all people beautiful"- that's complete bullshit to me. Maybe facially or personally, an anorexic person can be beautiful, but someone's bones showing through their skin and looking like they are on the verge of death is not in any way beautiful. If we said everyone was beautiful, there would be no meaning or standard of what beautiful is. It would just lose its meaning entirely. If we call the ugliest dog in the world cute, how does that compare with other dogs that are much cuter? It doesn't. Thus, the meaning of "cute" is now completely lost. Beauty is subjective, of course, but there is a limit and a line is drawn somewhere about what is beautiful and what is just downright unhealthy looking. You can think whatever you want, but I am going to completely disagree with you.

Except that beauty is subjective, and different people define different qualities as beauty - which you yourself say. The point isn't "everyone is beautiful" but rather "everyone is beautiful in different ways" or perhaps "everyone is beautiful to someone, just not to all"

[BogoGog24]

^ It really depends in what context you're talking about. If you mean beauty on a personal level, that is completely different than speaking of beauty on a physical level. Physically, we are all attracted to different types of people. If I think a guy is attractive-looking, my best friend might think he's not. But on a personal level, for the most part, everyone has a really nice personality. However, even in that case, there are some truly ugly people in this world that have an ugly personality.

I don't know if Annie was saying she thinks everyone is beautiful on a personal level (with which I would mostly agree) or beautiful on a physical level (with which I would not agree).

[HBK-79]

Maybe people bash Avril's guitar skills because (at least at the beginning of her career) she sort of acted like she was a great guitar player even though she wasn't that good. She would be like "I'm rocking out on stage with my guitar, unlike Britney Spears! Yeah!" She would basically stand there and strum like 3 chords. Sometimes she would acknowledge the fact she wasn't a good guitar player, other times she'd act like she was a more credible musician than someone like Britney because she knew how to play 3 chords. It's like she makes a big deal out of playing the guitar, even though her skills are nothing to write home about. Taylor and Katy don't really talk about their guitar skills at all.

The difference between her and other artists like Katy, Gaga, etc. who also dress and act immature is that those artists don't pretend to be mature. Avril goes on talking about how "deep" and "serious" GL is but then sings WTH, what do you think people are going to think? They see her as a hypocrite because she says how serious her music is but then sings a song that is the opposite (not her fault, we know, but the general public doesn't know that).

Everyone has double standards, it's really as simple as that. Though I guess Avril partly brought it on to herself for yapping so much about herself as a teen, but you can't hold that against her. Anyone who thinks a 27 year old will hold the same beliefs and opinions he/she did ten years ago needs to get checked out.

Avril gets more crap specifically about her maturity because she gives interviews telling the public about her 'mature singer-songwriter acoustic feel album' and then follows it with singles such as WTH and Smile - not her fault but the public don't know that. Avril talks up being a serious singer-songwriter and then releases singles that say the complete opposite - if I wasn't a fan and didn't know the real reason why those songs were released then i'd think she seemed a bit ridiculous too. The likes of Katy Perry don't get the same shit for being 'immature' because they don't go on about how serious and songwriter-y their albums are, they just release fun and quality pop music and don't pretend to be one thing and act the complete opposite. Avril does dress pretty immature, her singles do make her seem immature when you compare them to how she talks about the album, but if thats all people can find to criticise her about then i'm more than happy.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one who feels this way. But if I didn't like a particular artist, I wouldn't bother watching, reading, or listening to any interviews that that artist gives regarding his or her musicianship, image, songwriting style, etc. And why should I? I don't like the person, so why would I be curious to hear what he or she has to say about himself or herself?

For example, I truthfully didn't like Avril when she first came out. I wasn't turned on by her "rawk" image or her Alanis-style of singing. So I didn't check out any of her interviews, because I simply didn't care. So I was ignorant of her "I'll never do this and I'll never do that" proclamations when people asked her about her take on Britney Spears.

As an another example- I don't like Gaga's music or her image (just like how I didn't like Avril back in 2002). So I don't feel inclined to learn about what she says concerning what her dumb outfits stand for. My dislike for Gaga is centered on the singles that I hear on the radio, and on how I feel that her music is stylistically no different from the current trends.

My point is that people hate on Avril based on what they hear on the radio. Since they don't like her music, they're not about to waste their time researching her past interviews about how "serious of an artist" she is, or digging up pics of her dressed in garish AD attire.

Besides, in my original post, I mentioned that much of the Avril hate I encounter has been among my peers and internet trolls. Not in entertainment news articles or gossip rags.

My gut feeling is that there must be something else at work that is making the general public loathe Avril so much in comparison to other female singers.

[★Jululps★]

I'm not sure if I'm the only one who feels this way. But if I didn't like a particular artist, I wouldn't bother watching, reading, or listening to any interviews that that artist gives regarding his or her musicianship, image, songwriting style, etc. And why should I? I don't like the person, so why would I be curious to hear what he or she has to say about himself or herself?

For example, I truthfully didn't like Avril when she first came out. I wasn't turned on by her "rawk" image or her Alanis-style of singing. So I didn't check out any of her interviews, because I simply didn't care. So I was ignorant of her "I'll never do this and I'll never do that" proclamations when people asked her about her take on Britney Spears.

As an another example- I don't like Gaga's music or her image (just like how I didn't like Avril back in 2002). So I don't feel inclined to learn about what she says concerning what her dumb outfits stand for. My dislike for Gaga is centered on the singles that I hear on the radio, and on how I feel that her music is stylistically no different from the current trends.

My point is that people hate on Avril based on what they hear on the radio. Since they don't like her music, they're not about to waste their time researching her past interviews about how "serious of an artist" she is, or digging up pics of her dressed in garish AD attire.

Besides, in my original post, I mentioned that much of the Avril hate I encounter has been among my peers and internet trolls. Not in entertainment news articles or gossip rags.

My gut feeling is that there must be something else at work that is making the general public loathe Avril so much in comparison to other female singers.

There's no one reason.

And people are still going to come across news related to Avril Lavigne, whether they want to or not. You may be able to avoid such information, but I frequently stumble across artists that I have no interest in. And people will judge her based off anything, be it a single, a photo from an event, or an article.

I wouldn't say she's hated more than other female singers, but there's certainly a lot of conflict over her because of her image transition over the years and how it's left so many people butt hurt. If anything, her ex-fans do the most damage.