Madonna can’t win when it comes to her appearance

[The Second Coming]

Madonna can’t win when it comes to her appearance

 

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The pop icon’s presence at the Grammys on Sunday night led to insults and criticism across the internet but it’s also nothing new for her, writes Ellie Muir. Her face, body, arms and hands have long been fair game for misogyny and faux concern – will it ever stop?

 

On Sunday night, Madonna appeared at the Grammy Awards wearing an outsized black tuxedo, her eyebrows bleached platinum blonde and her cheeks plumped and smooth. Everyone lost it. Here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter: “Looks like she had a face transplant”; “Madonna received the ‘New Face’ award at the 2023 Grammy Awards!”; “Not the Madonna I remember.” By Monday morning, numerous news outlets had dubbed Madonna “unrecognisable” and were busy ringing up plastic surgeons to ask their opinions on a woman they’d never actually treated.

That the reaction has been entirely critical of the 64-year-old pop icon is unsurprising – Madonna has long been a punching bag for the apparent crimes of not being young, publicly expressing her sexuality and not looking the same as she did half a century ago when she first became famous. This is no exaggeration. In 1993, a Smash Hits magazine spread printed the words “Calm down Grandma!” over a picture of the musician performing at Wembley Stadium. She was 35 at the time.

This treatment has continued, ad nauseam, through every phase of Madonna’s career. In the 2000s, she was lambasted for her arms, with American gossip site TMZ describing them as “bloodcurdling veiny corpse arms”. In another post, they were dubbed “gruesomely muscled arms [that] appear to have been reassembled with the bony remains of a dead cow”. In the music video for her 2006 track “Sorry”, she roller skates with an entourage of young and gorgeous male dancers. Many of the visuals from the song’s parent album, her disco throwback Confessions on a Dancefloor, show Madonna, then aged 47, in a high-rise leotard, rolling around in a dance studio and meeting up in alleyways with objectively ripped dancers. This was nothing particularly interesting for that era of music videos, yet she was still berated for being “too old” for such imagery. By 2016, criticism of Madonna’s appearance had migrated down to her hands, which tabloids declared were too “veiny” and “wrinkly”.

Few weeks seem to go past without Madonna drawing mockery or abuse for how she looks. Earlier this month, TV host Lorraine Kelly brutally likened the star’s face to a “boiled egg”, while Piers Morgan – who has always had a very odd revulsion for Madonna – claimed that she’d become “the most grotesque, trainwreck embarrassment in the history of world entertainment”. It’s long been acceptable to say incredibly vicious things about her in public, with few celebrity figures ever leaping to her defence.

Ultimately, it seems that we like older women to be devoid of individuality or agency, and refuse them the right to be wild, unpredictable or risk-taking. Women who refuse, as Madonna always has, to sit down and be quiet. That’s why critics like Morgan are continually enraged by Madonna’s expressive presence on social media, or describe her modern work as strained or calculated rather than a natural extension of her interests: she’s recently experimented with musical genres like rap and Cape Verdean batuque, while her latest single “Back That Up to the Beat” was released in a sped-up tempo for maximum TikTok appeal. It went viral. She also continues to work with younger artists, lately the bisexual Dominican rap sensation Tokischa, who is 38 years her junior.

What’s also striking about Madonna’s boxing match with ageist standards of sexual expression is that she’s one of the first pop icons to age in front of us so publicly. While many famous singers may retire into lives of tranquility or live off re-releases of old hits – many of her most culture-shifting peers, such as Prince, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston are also long dead – Madonna remains a working artist still interested in pushing sonic boundaries and working with fresh voices. And so what if she’s still doing it while slithering across the floor?

In true Madge fashion, the musician seems unphased by the criticism hurled at her. In a New York Times interview published in 2019, she suggested that journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis was too fixated on the concept of age. “Stop thinking,” she told her. “Just live your life and don’t be influenced by society trying to make you feel some type of way about your age or what it is you’re supposed to be doing.” Much to the dismay of Madonna’s critics, this has always been her approach: be stubborn, be steely, never crumble in the public eye.

Of the criticism of her presence on Instagram, Madonna compared it to a “crime”: “You can’t win [as an older woman] – an ass [photograph] will get you more followers but it will also get you more detractors and criticism. You’re in that funny place.” But she’s also been in that “funny place” for the far majority of her career – a 35-year-old in her bra dubbed “grandma”, now a 64-year-old dubbed “a boiled egg”. Through all that criticism, she’s shrugged. Good for her.

 

[MadonnasBoyfriend]

Her confidence must have been shaken hard after last sunday. Poor M

Edited February 8, 2023 by MadonnasBoyfriend

[kyliefever2002]

its sad really and what infuriates me the most is that ive seen a lot of people that are insulting madonna for her looks are the ones that were posting #freebritney not too long ago. you'd imagine these fans would be the first ones to know what misogyny and ageism can do to a pop singer. 

[Virgos Groove]

They absolutely spilled.

[JustLikeHoney]

8 minutes ago, kyliefever2002 said:

its sad really and what infuriates me the most is that ive seen a lot of people that are insulting madonna for her looks are the ones that were posting #freebritney not too long ago. you'd imagine these fans would be the first ones to know what misogyny and ageism can do to a pop singer. 

They don't. They harass Britney for being under Sam's control. These are not bright people. 

[dman4life]

7 minutes ago, kyliefever2002 said:

its sad really and what infuriates me the most is that ive seen a lot of people that are insulting madonna for her looks are the ones that were posting #freebritney not too long ago. you'd imagine these fans would be the first ones to know what misogyny and ageism can do to a pop singer. 

#freebritney was a fluke I fear. Those same users shade her mental health and career any chance they get these days so I'm unfortunately not surprised that they s**t on Madonna 

[JustLikeHoney]

The same people that hate the plastic surgery were also giving her hell when she was aging without the surgery.

 

Leave her alone. People are so terrible. 

[brenda-walsh]

madonna has been facing this same criticism for the vast majority of her 40 year long career. she will continue to do whatever the hell she wants and pave the way for the new gen

 

truly the queen of pop 

[Bang Up]

There are tons of celebs who've gotten work done and nobody cares. It's the antics Madonna does that draw attention to herself and her face. If she acted like a sane adult as opposed to an attention-hungry child, she would get much less criticism.

[Winged]

I mean she looks like Jessica Alves  or Pete Burns 

 

she can’t hide it

[Shimenawa]

She needs to become bestie with Cher and Dolly Parton!

 

Their surgeon did amazing work and they don't look like grandmas!

Edited February 8, 2023 by Shimenawa

[narid]

8 minutes ago, Bang Up said:

There are tons of celebs who've gotten work done and nobody cares. It's the antics Madonna does that draw attention to herself and her face. If she acted like a sane adult as opposed to an attention-hungry child, she would get much less criticism.

Ridiculous take, and complete deflection of the issue. Have you read the article? Or just unable to say anything remotely positive when it comes to Madonna?

 

The woman attended the Grammy’s, spoke for 2mins, and has been subjected to a barrage of hate. There were no antics.

 

And what you call her ‘antics’ has been been central to all her advocacy work across the years, for LGBTQ+ rights, for women’s rights, including during the AIDS crisis when very few celebrities dared to speak on the issue. 

That argument, and demeaning her work as ‘antics’ seeking attention, is what the homophobes and misogynists have hurled at her for decades, so you are certainly choosing to be in good company.

Edited February 8, 2023 by narid

[Sugar-Rush]

The issue isn't her age, it's that she looked like she got stung on the face by a thousand bees when she attended the Grammys. Like, it's an uncanny valley type situation with her these days.  

[The Next Day]

I'm still on the fence with this. She is choosing to use surgery on her face, that's why I'm not sold on the comparison with her hands, arms etc., stuff that she can't control. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that she looked like a different person compared to 2 years ago. I'm not gonna start lying because other people, as usual, take it too far with their comments. I would never blame or hate her for choosing to look like this. It's her body, she can do whatever the **** she wants. 

[Tusk]

I’d rather be bashed for my natural face than my plastic one but that’s just me.

 

 

[GlamSlam]

16 minutes ago, narid said:

Ridiculous take, and complete deflection of the issue. Have you read the article? Or just unable to say anything remotely positive when it comes to Madonna?

 

The woman attended the Grammy’s, spoke for 2mins, and has been subjected to a barrage of hate. There were no antics.

 

And what you call her ‘antics’ has been been central to all her advocacy work across the years, for LGBTQ+ rights, for women’s rights, including during the AIDS crisis when very few celebrities dared to speak on the issue. 

That argument, and demeaning her work as ‘antics’ seeking attention, is what the homophobes and misogynists have hurled at her for decades, so you are certainly choosing to be in good company.

[tiagol88]

I remember back in the mid 00s all newspapers, specially tabloids zooming in on her hands and calling them granny hands. Even people online. 
 

This idea that Madonna started to be insulted for her looks only after plastic surgery has to stop. It’s a lie and it started long before that.

 

I don’t know how she managed so long without nothing major done actually. She was basically 50…

[fountain]

Why does anybody care? Literally the only person who should be worried about her appearance is Madonna herself. How is this anybody else’s concern

[Solaria]

It just continues to show that Madonna will never be irrelevant. She keeps defying standards and has her haters clutching their pearls simply for just existing. She hasn't had this much backlash since American Life

[tiagol88]

1 minute ago, Love Again said:

It just continues to show that Madonna will never be irrelevant. She keeps defying standards and has her haters clutching their pearls simply for just existing. She hasn't had this much backlash since American Life

I see you didn’t live the days she was accused of kidnapping a kid from malawi back in 2006. She even had to go on Oprah to dismiss the rumors.

[Solaria]

1 minute ago, tiagol88 said:

I see you didn’t live the days she was accused of kidnapping a kid from malawi back in 2006. She even had to go on Oprah to dismiss the rumors.

And she's being accused of child trafficking now as well 

[tiagol88]

5 minutes ago, Love Again said:

And she's being accused of child trafficking now as well 

But now it’s mostly conspiracy theorists feeding people who believe anything they read. The theories are laughable specifically the one that she never allowed her kids to go back there and meet their families ehich we know it’s a lie.

[Trent W]

Most old divas aren’t shamed for their appearance in their 60s. They just got old and it’s natural, people don’t care.

 

Madonna was super hot in her 40s and she still looked great in her 50s. But her 60s were kinda rough and she can’t keep up anymore, the excessive plastic surgery and filters show the excessive amount of insecurity.

 

I think she just needed to accept that she’s really old now and her body isn’t capable of looking younger. She looked great for most of her life and getting old with dignity and boosting her catalog would’ve been great for her.

[spiritboy]

As a longtime fan (since 85) do i like the way she looks in 2023? Nope. Do i criticize her? No again.  It's not my place to tell her what to do with her body. And yes, people have been calling her a grandma, dinosaur since 93. Who wouldn't be insecure after all those years?

[Trent W]

1 minute ago, spiritboy said:

As a longtime fan (since 85) do i like the way she looks in 2023? Nope. Do i criticize her? No again.  It's not my place to tell her what to do with her body. And yes, people have been calling her a grandma, dinosaur since 93. Who wouldn't be insecure after all those years?

I think sadly Madonna has really carried the ageism and opened doors for many others.

 

I never see Jlo, Shakira or Beyonce be treated the  way Madonna was in her 40s and 50s.

 

I also think that being 40 in the 2020s is not the same that it was in the 00s. People look also way younger now.

 

Sadly Madonna was there before and even in her late 30s was already seen as old.