Body Shaming Jason Freakin' Momoa?!
Jason Momoa - Nothing To Be Body Shamed Over
Seriously, What Is Wrong With People?
I got a little nervous when I saw Jason Momoa was trending on Twitter this morning.
Here's this young(ish) actor - he's 39 - and he's trending. It's been my experience on Twitter, or really, social media as a whole, that if a celebrity is trending, they have either recently died, been honored with some sort of award, or did something really stupid to land themselves unwanted media attention. I knew it couldn't have been an award - it's been a while since Aquaman, and while he should be lauded for his environmental efforts, I don't know that his campaign for aluminum instead of plastic water containers is enough to garner him awards - and while he's known for having a lot of fun, I don't know that his brand of fun ventures into the stupidity some celebrities have become known for. So, it was with some trepidation that I clicked on his name during my usual browse through Twitter.
It's not Jason Momoa being stupid, thank God. It's the social media trolls.
Here's the thing with Jason Momoa. He's very pretty to look at. He's done some modeling work, he was seriously buff when he played Ronon Dex on Stargate: Atlantis and became even more so over the years, garnering significant attention as Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones and particularly as Arthur Curry in Aquaman. He's very much become known for his muscular body and washboard abs, and if you are not aware of that, you only need to look at a picture of the man. You'd have to be blind to miss that Jason Momoa is in seriously good physical condition.
So recently, he was photographed, presumably on vacation with his family, and people are now saying he's got a "dad bod."
Are you freaking kidding me?
I've got a serious problem with those who choose to body shame on a good day. Not a single one of us is perfect, and we probably all have things about our physicality that we want to change in one respect or another. Why, then, do we have to look at people who don't look like we expect them to and criticize them?
I was told once that if I ever pointed a finger at someone about something, I needed to remember that there were other fingers pointing directly back at me, so my question is, what do those who are body shaming Jason Momoa see about how he looks now that they don't like in themselves?
This shouldn't be simply about the notion that Jason Momoa has been known for ages now as someone whose physical stature should be adored and swooned over. In fact, his supposed "dad bod" looks like the peak of physical condition for many people out there. Heck, I would love my bod to look as good as his "dad bod," and I'm a 46-year-old woman who is in pretty decent shape herself.
I'm also pretty confident that Jason Momoa's wife, Lisa Bonet, has zero complaints about her husband's "dad bod." I mean, it's not as though the man completely let himself go and looks like Fat Thor from Avengers: Endgame.
(*** Note: For those who might feel that I just spoiled something about Avengers: Endgame by writing what I just did - the spoiler embargo was lifted a long time ago, and the whole "Fat Thor" issue has been widely reported. Sorry.)
Are we really in such a place right now that even someone who looks as fit as Jason Momoa needs to get fat shamed by trolls? I get that we live in a world that has become increasingly cynical over the last few years, but come on, people. Even Jason Momoa, who has quite likely not started shooting the much-anticipated sequel to Aquaman, needs to live like the rest of us and enjoy the occasional ice cream or burger and fries once in a while. Let him have some downtime and just live his life without criticizing him for still looking better than a lot of us even with a "dad bod."
When people fat shame others, or even just shame others, because of their outward appearance, we have to remember that it's more a statement about how the shamer is rather than the person who is being shamed. Perhaps if we remember what shaming people actually tells others about us, there would be a whole lot less of it going around.
