You’ve got to hand it to Ariel Winter.
The 19-year-old Modern Family star’s metamorphosis from cute-as-a-button child star to fully-fledged woman has played out in front of a global audience. She’s not afforded the luxury of anonymity us non-famous folk enjoy. When we upload a risqué selfie, the worst that can come from it is a disappointed text from Mum. When Winter does, the reaction is global.
From strangers commenting on her Instagram posts telling her she’s “trying too hard to look slutty” to others telling her she’s asking for it, Ariel’s Instagram is a constant target.
She does upload suggestive pictures. They’re objectively sexy. But so do the large majority of women her age. Despite how regular her behaviour is, every month there’s a new story about Winter, and every single time without fail, they’re about her body.
This sort of shit adds up and has an affect on anyone, let alone a teenager. But instead of feeling shamed and toning it down, Winter keeps doing her, and has explained her reasoning in an in-depth interview with Refinery29 for their ‘Take Back The Beach‘ bikini-body confidence series.
The feature covers everything from wearing false lashes to the beach to Donald Trump, and Winter doesn’t hold back.
“It’s hard to be positive about your body all the time,” she said.“I know because I’m honest about my insecurities that people think I’m 100 percent positive about my body all the time, but I’m not. I get really uncomfortable, too. But I just remind myself that this is the body I was given. This is who I am.”“Our leadership is really anti-women right now,” Winter told Refinery29. “Thanks to Donald Trump, we’re being objectified and made to feel bad about ourselves, so I think it’s really important for women to stick together and do the opposite of that; to let their bodies be seen and be heard, and to empower each other; to remind each other that what they look like is not the only thing that’s important when it comes to who they are.”
She also discussed her decision to undergo a breast reduction surgery in 2015, a procedure that helped her feel more confident in her body.
“When I got the breast reduction it helped me feel so much better about my body. I used to have full-scale meltdowns in bathing suit shops because there was nothing I could find to wear. I always felt like crap about myself,” she said.“… My best friend, she’s super tall and skinny and she’ll wear the same bathing suit as me, but people will automatically look at me and call me out as a slut or write headlines about ‘Ariel Winter’s cleavage.’ Meanwhile they look at her like, ‘Oh she looks so cute!’ But I’ve learned to not care about that as much. I’m comfortable in a bathing suit, scars and all.”
Of course, the interview was met with mixed reviews by readers. Some used it as an excuse to criticise her for her Memorial Day bikini uploads, and others used it as yet another chance to hit out at her for getting a breast reduction.
What do we say? Good on friggen you, Ariel.
Source: Refinery29.
Photo: Jason LaVeris / Getty.
