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It was a sincere effort to foster healthy body image, and she invited her fans to celebrate their "perceived flaws" her networking site, LittleMonsters.com, while talking honestly about her ongoing struggle with anorexia and bulimia. Jezebel's Dodai praised the new sub-section of her site saying, "Some may dimiss this as a stunt. I've seen Facebook posts calling the weight gain an orchestrated move, for attention. But it's sick and cynical to think that this 26-year-old woman who performs her heart out, leaves it all on the stage, day after day, with an eating disordered past, would be playing games with something as serious as body image. Especially with a legion of young fans."
Lady Gaga is a huge, huge, mainstream star. Whether or not you're a fan or her work, her influence is inarguably wide-reaching. And as much as I grumble about her music and image being not as revolutionary as one would like to believe, she does use her voice and fame for good in a way that's sincere rather than career-enhancing. I would like to point out, though I'm sounding like a broken record at this point, that Gaga is still a young, conventionally attractive, and yes, thin white woman, and her privilege on many of life's axes makes this not as risky as, say, when someone like Beth Ditto poses nude for a magazine cover. Bitch Magazine's Kelsey Wallace also brought up a good point that "isn't focusing on appearance kind of missing the point? Instead of telling everyone how pretty they look or telling a woman with Lupus that she's 'Still hot as fuck,' why not work to shift the conversation away from looks entirely?"
Still, none of this is meant to dismiss the actual good that could come from a major star discussing body image and eating disorders in the now instead being a part of her past that she "got over." The value in that can't be over-estimated.
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