Back in early March — you know, when concerts were still possible — Billie Eilish shared an amazing video to kick off her Where Do We Go? tour.
Audiences gasped as the teen sensation appeared on screen, slowly stripping off her signature layers of baggy clothes — the whole time challenging ideas of body shaming and slut shaming in a powerful voiceover.
Most of the world only saw glimpses of the clip from a fan’s cell phone video, but now the Bury A Friend singer has made the entire short film, entitled NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY, available in HD on her official YouTube page.
Related: Billie Talks Nudity, Body Shaming, & Wearing A Dress
Obviously the message works better with the visuals, as the 18-year-old artist cleverly manipulates perceptions — by removing her clothing she makes the viewer complicit in, and therefore more aware of, an industry which has historically sexualized young women.
Like much of what Billie is doing, it’s really brilliant.
However, it’s worth taking a moment to read the full text of the Grammy winner’s message. She begins:
“Do you know me? Really, know me? You have opinions about my opinions, about my music, about my clothes, about my body. Some people hate what I wear; some people praise it. Some people use it to shame others; some people use it to shame me. But I feel you watching, always. Nothing I do goes unseen, so while I feel your stares, your disapproval… or your sighs of relief.”
She then lamented:
“If I lived by them, I’d never be able to move.”
Next she went after the body shaming every woman alive has to face:
“Would you like me to be smaller? Weaker? Softer? Taller? Would you like me to be quiet? Do my shoulders provoke you? Does my chest? Am I my stomach, my hips, the body I was born with? Is it not what you wanted? If I wear what is comfortable… I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I’m a slut. Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it and judge me for it. Why? You make assumptions about people based on their size.”
Finally she turned it around, declaring:
“We decide who they are. We decide what they’re worth. If I wear more, if I wear less, who decides what that makes me? What that means? Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”
Strong stuff.
Ch-ch-check out the full short film by Billie Eilish (below)!
[Image via Billie Eilish/YouTube.]
The post Billie Eilish Officially Releases Her Body Positive Stripping Short Film! appeared first on Perez Hilton.