VICKY PATTISON WAS on a mission yesterday.
“I’m off to drink tequila and tell every woman I see that I think she’s smart, funny, pretty and important,” the former Geordie Shore star told her Instagram followers in a lengthy post last night.
This display of compassion was born of Vicky’s recent experience of online shaming which she made reference to in the same post.
The 31-year-old, who is currently celebrating her younger sister’s wedding in Mexico, told her followers:
I’ve had about enough of shitty articles, online bullies, body shaming, trolling and negativity! To add insult to injury, I’m now being body shamed over some unflattering pap pics and I can’t believe we’re still on this hype in 2019.
In the accompanying video, Vicky highlights her perceived flaws, and discourages her followers from partaking in online shaming.
Can’t see the video? Click here.
“Don’t judge. Don’t body-shame. Don’t troll. We’ve all got bits; we’ve got curvy bits, some have got flat bits, some have got wobbly bits. All I’m trying to say is love your bits,” Vicky concluded.
Over 192,000 people liked Vicky’s message, and flooded her page with messages of gratitude, encouragement and support.
However, Michelle McManus, who was catapulted into the spotlight back in 2003 after winning ITV show Pop Idol, wasn’t buying Vicky’s ardent pleas to bring body-shaming to an end.
Michelle, who was dogged by criticism over her weight both during and after her time on the talent show, was once cruelly referenced by Vicky in an effort to ‘justify’ her supposed inability to restrict her diet in an article on the Mail Online in 2014.
‘There’s a Michelle McManus inside me dying to get out,” Vicky is quoted as saying alongside a headline which reads: “Vicky Pattison gorges on pizza and chips despite her ‘constant fear’ of gaining weight.”
In a Twitter post which has generated considerable publicity today, Michelle compared Vicky’s recent message with the 2014 article, and wrote; “Yes @vickypattison because you’ve never publicly body shamed anyone have you? Oh wait.”
Yes @vickypattison because you’ve never publicly body shamed anyone have you? Oh wait...🤔🙄 pic.twitter.com/eBeRcRXmPX
— Michelle McManus (@LadyM_McManus) January 10, 2019
The irony wasn’t lost on the vast majority, and it wasn’t long before Vicky’s recent message began ringing hollow as more and more people learned that she was no stranger to public body-shaming herself.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, 31-year-old Vicky offered an apology, insisting that she cannot identify with the person who thought it appropriate to openly body-shame another woman.
“There are a lot of things I did five years ago that I’m not proud of,” she said. “And to be honest, I wouldn’t even recognise the girl I was back then.”
I cannot apologise enough if my comments caused upset or hurt. I can guarantee even then it was not my intention, just my ignorance. I hope you accept my apology.
Here’s the thing though; body-shaming isn’t a new phenomenon, and it’s certainly not – nor has it ever been – exclusive to social media or red-top publications.
Since childhood, we’ve been taught not to point, not to comment, and not to criticise if we encounter someone whose physical appearance may not fit in with society’s ideals.
In other words, as soon as we are able to identify difference, we are discouraged from using it as a barometer with which to measure, or indeed, judge someone else.
“I can guarantee even then it was not my intention, just my ignorance,” Vicky said in response to criticism.
But what was she ignorant of exactly? Courtesy? Common decency? General regard for the well-being of others?
Vicky’s plea of ignorance implies she spent the vast majority of her life managing to sidestep the lessons the rest of us were taught ad nauseum.
It’s not conceivable to believe that Vicky navigated life – up until relatively recently – oblivious to these moral touchstones.
It’s simply that her perspective and approach to others has now changed for the better.
Pleading ignorance is lazy; admitting culpability, however, may be the accelerant her aforementioned mission needs.
