In public life, women are subjected to a certain kind of cruelty. It doesn’t make an announcement. It appears subtly in Facebook threads and comment sections, where “then vs. now” photo comparisons are posted without any kindness or context. The most recent victim of that specific sport is Natalie Maines, the lead vocalist of The Chicks, one of the most renowned acts in country music history. Additionally, the way it has developed says something important to consider.
Since the mid-1990s, Maines, who is currently 51 years old, has been a prominent figure in American music. At the age of 21, she joined what was then known as the Dixie Chicks, and she helped lead the group to 13 Grammy Awards and a level of mainstream success that most musicians spend their entire careers pursuing. She also made it through a near-complete blackout from country radio after criticizing President George W. Bush during a London concert in 2003, something that very few artists do. The backlash was severe and detrimental to one’s career. Despite this, the band regrouped, changed their name, and continued.
Therefore, it wasn’t shocking that the conversation quickly turned nasty when recent pictures went viral online and people started talking about obvious changes in her appearance, such as weight gain, facial fullness, and a different silhouette than the one viewers were familiar with from the late 1990s. The brutality became blatantly political, which was a little unexpected.
Some commenters blamed Maine’s physical changes on her political beliefs, obviously reacting more to her recent public comments about Donald Trump than to any real concern. “Leftism is a rot,” one commenter said. Some claimed that having progressive views corrodes a person’s appearance from the inside out. If the remarks weren’t so genuinely hurtful, it would almost be comical.
Experts cited in the story’s coverage quickly provided an alternative explanation, one based on fundamental human physiology. According to London-based aesthetician Dr. Gizem Seymenoglu, the production of collagen and elastin starts to decrease in the mid-20s. These changes become much more apparent by the late 30s and early 40s. Over time, the fat pads in the face move downward. Skin becomes less resilient structurally. These are not signs of any particular ideology. They represent the appearance of aging on an actual human face.
Some of the online conversation may also be related to a different aspect of Maines’ past, according to reports that she was prescribed steroids at some point. These drugs are known to cause fluid retention and abrupt weight fluctuations. She seemed upset about the changes and tried to change her medication, according to a Facebook commenter. None of this has been publicly verified, and Maines has not discussed it. It’s important to acknowledge that and refrain from making any more assumptions.
What is worth mentioning is that Natalie Maines’ career was built on her refusal to go unnoticed. She returned with a Grammy-winning album after taking one of the biggest professional hits in the history of contemporary country music. She put out a solo album. She continued to express her opinions. Observing the current commentary cycle, it appears that some people genuinely anticipated that the body-shaming would have a different impact than the radio boycotts; they anticipated that it would hurt in a way that the professional blacklist was unable to.
It doesn’t appear to have. After posting her comments about Trump, she moved on.
Women in public life typically realize fairly early on that their physical appearance will always be the subject of commentary. Occasionally, the commentary presents itself as genuinely worried. It can be overtly antagonistic at times. Sometimes it shows up disguised as humor. The general idea is the same: people’s bodies serve as a stand-in for everything they would like to say about a person but are afraid to express it directly.
Natalie Maines has been a lightning rod for more than 20 years. She has always been targeted because of her voice, both literally and figuratively. The debate over her weight is merely the most recent iteration of a long-standing dispute. Furthermore, she doesn’t really want to have her track record, if it matters at all.
