Billie Eilish has sparked uproar after saying that men’s bodies aren’t scrutinized because “girls are nice,” in a candid interview.
Throughout the 21-year-old pop sensation’s career, she has been subject to a torrent of unwarranted comments and it has been especially hard for her as she hit stardom at the age of 15.
These remarks are often about her choice to wear oversized and androgynous-style outfits, which is why Eilish has now opened up about the double standards when it comes to expectations for men and women.
For the ‘Bad Guy’ singer’s latest venture as cover girl of Variety Magazine’s Power Of Women edition, she claimed in the interview that men don’t face the same type of scrutiny as women – but this statement has led to backlash on social media.
Speaking to the publication, Eilish said: “Nobody ever says a thing about men’s bodies,” explaining, “If you’re muscular, cool. If you’re not, cool. If you’re rail thin, cool. If you have a dad bod, cool. If you’re pudgy, love it!”
“Everybody’s happy with it. You know why? Because girls are nice. They don’t give a f**k because we see people for who they are!” she added.
Safe to say, her comments have not gone down well as many vehemently disagreed and explained why Eilish was wrong for claiming that men don’t face criticism about their bodies.
One user slammed: “Any overweight man who becomes high profile is going to have his body discussed and criticized on social media. What a bizarre statement from someone who lives in a fantasy world where only women are scrutinized.”
Another person chimed in and said that the ‘Ocean Eyes’ singer was “a little tone deaf” because “a lot of ppl go through criticism both as men and female and every experience is valid”.
A third user blasted: “This generation’s obsession with not only being a victim but making sure no one else is more of a victim [than] them is unprecedented. How tone-deaf can someone be?”
However, some users agreed with her, as someone stated: “Yall love misconstruing words to get women dragged. she talked about being constantly sexualized since she was 13 – like most young female celebrities.”
A second shared: “People are hating on this but there are very very few male public figures who experience what female celebrities do in terms of magnifying glass scrutiny over [every] single inch of their bodies, and absolutely zero who’ve experienced what Billie has in the public eye.”
The ‘What Was I Made For?’ hitmaker made her comments while ranting about the attention she receives when pictures of her donning “revealing” clothing circulate on the internet.
“I have big boobs. I’ve had big boobs since I was nine years old, and that’s just the way I am. That’s how I look,” she stated, adding, “You wear something that’s at all revealing, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, but you didn’t want people to sexualize you? You can suck my a**! I’m literally a being that is se xual sometimes. F*** you!”
This isn’t the first time Eilish has addressed her frustrations, as she once spoke about the time she was slammed for wearing a swimsuit at age 18.
“I saw comments like, ‘How dare she talk about not wanting to be sexualized and wear this?!'” she recalled to Dazed magazine in 2020. “There were comments like, ‘I don’t like her anymore because as soon as she turns 18 she’s a whore.’ Like, dude. I can’t win.”
A year before that, Eilish confirmed her reason for wearing loose clothing was a way of avoiding commentary on her body, telling Teen Vogue: “Nobody can have an opinion [on my body] because they haven’t seen what’s underneath.”
“Nobody can be like, ‘she’s slim-thick,’ ‘she’s not slim-thick,’ ‘she’s got a flat a**,’ ‘she’s got a fat a**.’ No one can say any of that because they don’t know,” she added.