Ariana Grande’s spoke out on an incident with an overzealous fan of her boyfriend Mac Miller whose thoughtless words stung Grande and left her feeling “sick.”
The “Side to Side” singer took to Twitter on Tuesday night to go into detail on what happened while she and Miller were out together when a young admirer tried to compliment Miller but ended up making Grande feel “objectified” like “a piece of meat.” She wrote, “Went to pick up food with my boyfriend tonight and a young boy followed us to the car to tell Mac that he’s a big fan. He was loud and excited and by the time M was seated in the drivers seat he was literally almost in the car with us. I thought all of this was cute and exciting until he said ‘Ariana is sexy as hell man I see you, I see you hitting that!!!'”
Grande said that his words caused her to pause. “Hit that?” she wrote. “The f–k??”
She continued, “This may not seem like a big deal to some of you but I felt sick and objectified. I was also sitting right there when he said it. (?) I’ve felt really quiet and hurt since that moment. Things like happen all the time and are the kinds of moments that contribute to women’s sense of fear and inadequacy. I am not a piece of meat that a man gets to utilize for his pleasure. I’m an adult human being in a relationship with a man who treats me with love and respect.”
The pop star said it “hurts” her heart to see and hear young people “using these phrases and objectifying women with such ease.”
She explained that her decision to speak out and share what happened comes from knowing that demeaning moments like the one she encountered happen far too often and will continue if they remain unchecked. “We need to talk about these moments openly because they are harmful and they live on inside of us as shame,” she wrote. “We need to share and be vocal when something makes us feel comfortable, because if we don’t, it will just continue.”
Many women and men, too, can relate to Grande’s fan run-in since it’s somewhat reminiscent of the Trump-like “locker room talk” that goes on daily in the schools, jobs, bars and so many other places. It’s the type of language that gets laughed off instead of called out, a practice that has to be stopped and not encouraged.
Grande finished her message with a strong statement: “We are not objects or prizes. We are QUEENS.”
https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/813957803136208897
