One Love Manchester

Reports are saying the concery last night has raised at least £10 million.

www.abcactionnews.com/entertainment/ariana-grande-returns-to-honor-terrorist-bombing-victims-with-one-love-manchester-benefit-concert

I'm amazed at some of the comments having a go at Ariana Grande in this thread. She's spent the past fortnight dealing with the aftermath of a terrorist attack at her concert, knowing that many people, some of them children, lost their lives at an arena which they were only attending in order to see her perform. I can't begin to imagine what that must be like to come to terms with and process - the lack of compassion in saying "she's perfectly old enough to have a poised response" is incredible.

Since the attack, Ariana's issued heartfelt statements, returned to Manchester and visited some of the injured children recovering in hospital, met some of the bereaved families who lost loved ones, and organised an incredible, uplifting concert to raise millions of pounds for the Red Cross' appeal. The strength and compassion she's shown has been inspirational and, as others have said, she's gone way beyond what could have reasonably been expected of her. I have nothing but admiration and respect for her after last night.

We're all entitled to our own opinion but personally, for someone to offer nothing but cynicism and criticism in response to Ariana's actions in the past fortnight (while admitting they didn't even watch the concert to make an informed judgement as to whether it was the right or wrong thing to do) almost beggars belief.

I'd like to have seen Little Mix do more than 1 song. Everyone else got 2 or 3.

I have zero interest in what people thought of their stage costumes before people start ranting about them!

I take your points @jeanhunt and I just think that perhaps that you are expressing two different things and conflating them which isn't helping the discussion.

I respect your stance on the concert timing, and it's naturally a divisive issue. I personally have no problem with it and feel it did a lot of good, but I also appreciate that for some people (involved directly or not) it wasn't the right thing. I think there's space for a live and let live approach to public grieving but I respect your standpoint on it.

The other angle is that Ariana herself is somehow a terrible role model for, from what I can gather, wearing the occasional skimpy top? this I and others can't get on board with. As far as I can tell she's generally a fairly scandal-free individual and has certainly proved her ability to behave in a responsible manner in the last week. By your argument about boys and girls Take That in their day (with previous buff bodies and tight clothes) were equally bad role models.

I don't want to get too off topic, but the research on eating disorders indicates that the causes are very complex, and can include biological factors and childhood trauma - including childhood sexual abuse -as well as cultural/social pressure to be thin. To single out Arianna Grande is ludicrous when researchers are fairly sure that all the images of slim people in the media can't be pinpointed as a direct cause. After all, we are far from having an epidemic of underweight young people - it's rather the reverse case, as I understand it.

Edited to add: I can understand a kneejerk 'too soon' response to the concert, even though I think it's wrong - these kind of responses are what they are, and you can't change them. Acting like there's some kind of moral objection to the young lady's clothes - which are no more revealing than I've seen on stage in many a musical and play - to justify that response is really distasteful, and smacks of that Daily Mail column that claimed the bombers targetted the concert because of her stage outfits.

The attendance from people who were there when the bombing happened indicates that most of them found it to be a positive tribute. And I think it's an entirely appropriate act of defiance to the scumbags who targeted innocent people simply enjoying a night out in order to terrorise us.

In the most cursory google search I could manage, I present the basic NHS information which says exactly that....

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Eating-disorders/Pages/Introduction.aspx

And huge props to all the people in the crowd and more particularly those who donated money.

No one could be faulted for fearing the worst and staying away or fearing the worst and attending anyway. Both are legitimate responses and I hope the event gave people a few hours of joy and togetherness to warm their hearts.

Especially seeing the response of a certain world leader on twitter, the strength of community in rallying around the effected in Manchester and London does you all proud.

Try walking in Riyadh and see what happens. A woman wearing what she wants to, and not because a patriarchy forces her to is, indeed, a revolutionary act.

As for men, who cares if they view her as an attractive woman? Really, what on earth is the ideology that forces a woman to wear certain clothes because of what men might think!? Sounds very akin to radical Islam to me. That a good proportion of her fan base is gay men is another screw you to the extremists. Thrown to their deaths from buildings by ISIS but standing proudly side by side with strong and independent women here, that other section of society that they are treated, by Islamic fundamentalists, as less than human.

This is crucial, we are liberal, tolerant, global; they are narrow minded, intolerant and isolated. Any rowing back from what we are would be their victory.

I liked the suggestion on Twitter, if he does turn up, the crowds should simply turn their backs on him, with people holding up signs saying 'wanker' at regular intervals so the news cameras can't miss them.

If it causes you so much upset, you should perhaps stop googling pictures of "Ariana Grande Barely Dressed".

Thank you for your polite response, emicardiff. I'm not conflating them, honestly - I was just answering points other people put to me throughout the thread, which may understandably have led to some confusion, especially because I couldn't do the multiple quote thingy on my phone (to be honest, I'm struggling with it even on my Mac!). I didn't mean them to be part of the same argument.

I take your point about Take That, I think the difference is that social media is so all-pervading now, not to mention online bullying. I think there is more pressure on young kids, of whatever gender, to conform to certain physical ideals. Again, I reiterate: it is clearly not the sole cause of eating disorders, body dysmorphia etc. And I am not saying Grande's choice of clothes/way in which she presents her figure makes her Feminist Enemy Number One. What I am saying is that she conforms to a certain stereotype to sell records. That stereotype says: sleek, slim, painted, pliable = beautiful = successful. Which I find pernicious. And I think it should be considered before we go raving on about role models.


Snutte: why can't it be both?


They wouldn't. I never said they would. My point is they'd see them in the context of a wider range of body shapes. Like we all do, in the shopping malls. Happy women who are thin, fat, blonde-haired, blue-haired, white, BAME, acne-scarred, disabled, who have friends and partners and are living successful lives. But look at the women in the advertising in the shopping malls and what do you see? 9 times out of 10 - unless there's a Dove advert somewhere - a skinny body in revealing clothes!


Cardinal Pirelli - my point wasn't clear. I meant that this thing you claim is a 'revolutionary act' plays right into the hands of what men want (hashtag NotAllMen). How revolutionary is that, truly? I read recently that the only sphere in which women are paid more than men is modelling and porn. Forgive me for not feeling hugely empowered by the consequences of women flaunting their bodies. Maybe if more talented women took less time playing into what is, in a lot of cases, essentially a soft porn stereotype, we might see society opening up more to their capabilities.

kathryn - I would never, EVER, suggest anything like that. You are drawing entirely your own inference here, please let's be clear about that.

In conclusion: I posted my original comment in response to a string of posts by men stating confidently what constituted a good role model for women. As a woman myself, who has lived 41 years with the female experience, I simply wished to put an alternative viewpoint that maybe they hadn't considered. And then it all went nuclear. Ah well. If nothing else, at least today I have found myself for the first time in my life having some sympathy with Jeremy Corbyn! ;-)