I am currently in the throes of protecting myself from die-hard Rihanna fans. I’ve gone and done it, the unthinkable, the entirely unfathomable...
I have criticised her on Twitter. I didn’t ‘@’ her, because that’s the moment you go from having an opinion, to being a bully. I simply wrote my feelings about her latest antics.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Rihanna, I think she is a charismatic, beautiful and powerful star. But these reasons only further demonstrate why I was so disappointed.
Rihanna has gone out of her way to associate herself with controversy. Amongst her flaunting of a relationship with a man who the entire world knows beat her senseless, her incessant promotion of marijuana, and daring stage antics, there is a new tendency to constantly upload increasingly provocative images on Instagram to millions of hungry followers.
I applaud those who dare to bare and take pride in their appearance, and feel like many more women ought to take note and embrace their bodies as she so masterfully does. However, there is a line. And I think she has just crossed it.
Some of her more shocking pictures were of her sitting on the floor wearing a bra, and no pants. Essentially naked, with wine in one hand, and what looks like a ‘recreational’ roll-up in the other.
Now, call me old fashioned, but when did it become acceptable to post pictures of yourself naked on social- networking sites? When was that OKed by society? Was I asleep that day? Whatever happened to leaving something (anything) to the imagination? What the hell must her mother have thought? What was SHE thinking as she hit send?
It just saddens me that so many young girls out there who look up to her as their icon, may be led to think that this is how to get attention, this is how you prove your worth, and rise within your world. Not to mention the thousands of talented young singers who watch how less clothes = more success. That’s not how to get ahead or receive lasting respect in your field.
She doesn’t need to do this, and nor do you. Talent and ability win out. You don’t have to dress like a nun to be taken seriously.
God knows Beyoncé gets about as naked as she legally can, but she does it within boundaries that mean she never, ever, looks cheap. Her sex appeal is empowering. Her clothes are provocative, her sexuality and power are her weapons of mass destruction and her dignity is always intact.
Rihanna, I love you, but put your minge away will you?
