Adele posted a photo of herself to her Instagram on Wednesday,standing amidst what looked to be her own birthday party celebrations.
The multiple Grammy-winner,who turned 32 on Tuesday,thanked fans for their “love” and expressed appreciation for essential workers and first responders,calling them “angels” for risking their lives during the coronavirus pandemic.
But the photo,which has since received over 170,000 comments,and spawned dozens of articles in the 24 hours since it went up,all focused on one thing:her apparent 45-kilogram weight loss.
We already knew Adele had lost weight in December,but this was the first time she had shown us herself proper – in a short,figure-hugging black dress and heels. Which means one undeniable thing:she likes how she looks. And why shouldn’t she? She looks great,and happy too. Thousands of fans,many of them celebrities,complimented her for looking “gorgeous”.
But body image activists have argued that praise of her weight loss is"fat-phobic",and that any attention for weight loss,so the argument goes,just serves to reinforce the idea that thin bodies,via the harmful narrative of “before” and “after” shots,are the only type of bodies worth celebrating.
There is a larger critique running through this argument,which underpins much of what we understand about body acceptance today and that is the question of why we pay attention to women’s bodies at all. Adele,like all women,is so much more than her weight. It is unfeminist,therefore,to even mention it.
It’s true,our culture does have an unhealthy obsession with women’s bodies. And with bodies that are thin and white. But the ironic thing about the many op-eds is that weight is exactly what they are focusing on,even while they encourage the rest of us to look elsewhere.
There is another discussion going on amidst this public discourse,too. It’s happening in group chats and texts and comments and it might be best summed up by quoting Chrissy Teigen,formerSports Illustrated model turned celebrity cook,who commented underneath Adele’s photo,“I mean,are you kidding me”.