CMAT, an Irish singer-songwriter, responded to ongoing online abuse focused on her body and weight after a BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend appearance. She said she felt compelled to speak after learning of abuse directed at photos from the Sunderland festival on 24 May. She shared screenshots of a fan’s Substack essay describing a disparity in how women on the same lineup were treated, comparing her treatment to Zara Larsson and Olivia Dean. CMAT said her body size is not a choice and that she experiences extreme difficulty changing it. She said her success is increasingly tarnished by the belief that she would be allowed to enjoy it more if she were thinner, and that no one can protect her from the abuse.
"CMAT shared screengrabs of a Substack essay by a music fan going by Front Row Feels, which summed up a lot of what is causing my deep sadness, she wrote. The essay compared the treatment of CMAT with fellow Big Weekend acts Zara Larsson and Olivia Dean, who didn't appear to be subjected to the same level of abuse online. What struck me most while scrolling through those toxic comment sections was the glaring disparity in how different women on that same lineup were treated, Front Row Feels wrote, adding that Larsson and Dean were granted a level of grace and basic humanity that was completely denied to CMAT."
"It is literally so boring for me, a gorgeous genius, to keep having to yap on about how horribly I am treated because of my body, she wrote. I would love to stop but I cannot because it keeps happening, at an accelerating and worsening pace as I become more famous. CMAT pointed out to well-meaning commenters that her body size was not a choice: I am not being defiant. I am not choosing to look like this or weigh this much as some kind of punk rock act of liberty."
"I simply have a body, one that I would of course like to change in order to fit in and avoid all of this abuse, but I have had extreme difficulty in doing so. I don't get a say in whether or not I want to be brave, I simply have to sit here and take it. She said that though she was grateful for her success, it is increasingly becoming tarnished by the fact that I would be allowed to enjoy it so much more if I was thin. There is no relief from this nobody can protect me or"
Read at www.theguardian.com
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