Systemic body-shaming of women artists reveals how music industry commodifies female bodies while profiting from their exploitation
Original framing: “CMAT shares ‘deep sadness’ over body-shaming after BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend performance” — The Guardian - World
The policing of women's bodies in music dates to 19th-century minstrelsy, where female performers' bodies were exoticized and controlled to appeal to male audiences. The 20th century saw the rise of the 'rock goddess' trope, where women like Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks were simultaneously celebrated and pathologized for their unconventional appearances. CMAT's experience mirrors the backlash against 'riot grrrl' artists in the 1990s, who were dismissed as 'unfeminine' despite their cultural impact.
CMAT's body-shaming is not an isolated incident but a symptom of an industry that has historically commodified women's bodies while extracting their labor under the guise of 'artistic freedom.
' The music industry's profit model relies on the myth that women's worth is tied to their marketability, a legacy of colonial beauty hierarchies and capitalist exploitation. Record labels, corporate media, and even 'progressive' platforms like BBC Radio 1 perpetuate this cycle by framing women's artistry as secondary to their appearance, a dynamic that mirrors the exploitation of female bodies in 19th-century minstrelsy. The solution lies in collective action—unionization, legal protections, and cultural shifts that decouple artistry from appearance—while centering the voices of marginalized artists who have long resisted these norms. The trickster's laughter, whether Hermes or Coyote, exposes the absurdity of an industry that profits from women's pain, offering a path to reclaim bodily sovereignty as a radical act of defiance.