Lili Reinhart who plays girl-next-door Betty Cooper in Riverdale has called out fan accounts of the show who have been comparing a picture of her character with a model.
The image being used by the fan accounts was taken from the eight episode of the second season wherein Betty strips to her underwear and performs a dance on stage for the gathered members of the southside serpents gang.
Lili Reinhart has shown no problem with the scene itself, and the show did point out the sexist nature of the dance which female initiates of the gang have to do. But since the episode aired she has noted that the image taken from that scene has been shared a lot on social media with fan accounts calling on their followers to compare it with a model and vote on who is better.
On her personal Tumblr account, she reposted the images and wrote” I’ve seen this picture all over my Instagram for the past two weeks. With captions like ‘Lili vs Model’ ‘who wore it better?’ ‘Which one is hotter?’ It’s been pretty hard to avoid. And I think it’s time I finally said something about it.”
“It’s disappointing.” she pointed out. “This photo is being posted by fan accounts. The same fan accounts who love to talk about the amazing female friendships on the show, girl power, Veronica’s inspiring feminism, body positivity, etc. And that is the most hypocritical shit I’ve ever seen.”
She then lamented how the fan accounts are encouraging the comparison of two bodies, and promoting an unrealistic standard of beauty. “It’s upsetting to see all these young women who proclaim to be feminists participate in something that represents the exact opposite,” she wrote “To them I say: You are the problem, don’t you get it? You are promoting the idea that this model is what all women should look like and that it’s not okay to look like anything else.”
“This is why we have eating disorders. This is why young teens are suicidal about their body image. This is why people have body dysmorphic disorder. ” she points out and then ends with a warning “I hope that this makes you reconsider the next time you feel the need to comment on another woman’s weight or figure.”
Take heed fan accounts.
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