Megan Gale and I never had much in common until yesterday. Sure we were both at the same taping of the Adam Hills show. And we both like fashion. And that's it.
But yesterday the supermodel, voted one of Who Magazine's most beautiful people, overheard a couple of girls in a cafe berating her looks. And she gave them a serve! And I never felt so akin to Megan until the moment I read about it.
"Wow.. They're really dissecting my looks! This is quite remarkable to hear... I'm literally less than a metre away from them.. "
"Alright, I'm going to say something... I think I have to no? Stand by tweeps for what happens next!! ... "
"God I wish I could have filmed that whole entire scene!! Ok so while they were in the midst if picking me to bits, I lifted my head... "
"..which was down, tweeting & obscured by baseball cap,smiled & sweetly said "hi". One clutched her heart,closed eyes & said Oh my God!"
"The other, most venomous of the two smiled at me & had the audacity to say hi oh my god how are you?!..."
"Still smiling, I said 'You should be careful what you say guys, you never know who might be listening'... "
"The back pedalling was quite interesting but their extremely chatty table became dead silent in a matter of seconds. They just left... M xx"
It annoys me that girls are so nasty. Finding fault in others. Bringing each other down. Jealousy. Critical of image and success. Such criticism of celebs makes us ordinary people feel rather self conscious. I can't imagine the embarrassment the girls discussing Megan would have felt. And so they should.
The situation that happened to Megan in the cafe happens to me a lot. Mostly silent stares, but sometimes comments or discussion about my appearance than I can hear.
I headed home on the train about 6.30. I put my headphones on and noticed a group of four teenagers staring at me. My music was on softly so I could hear them say how red I look, and laughing about my appearance. The ones who could see me pointed me out to the ones who were facing away from me. For them to get a better view, two of them took photos of me on their iPhones and showed them to the others. The angles they held their phones at made it pretty obvious they were photographing me. They continued to take photos of me, and when I stood up to exit the train, there a mad scramble to put their phones down.
I rarely confront someone if they aren't directly speaking to me about my appearance. Today I did.
When I reached the door, I said 'hey guys, could you please stop taking photos of me and showing them around. It's disrespectful'. Of course they denied it, muttering how stupid I am to say that. I said 'I may be red but I'm not stupid. I could see what you were doing'. Smirks continued. I said something else about them not understanding or respecting disability, and mentioned that my appearance has got me a role on TV. I was shaking, and even almost an hour later, I am still shaking.
And a year ago, when the woman in the store abused me, telling me to get out of the store, fearing my face would ruin her clothes? And I gave her a big "Fuck You" and wrote this:
The first shop we walked into was a second hand shop called Things Second Hand. It's located at 115 High Street.
I remember looking at a jacket, and then walking down the shop behind Mum. The shop was stacked with stuff. So much stuff I didn't actually see any individual items other than piles of stuff.
The shop keeper stared at me for about 20 seconds. I smiled and asked her if she was ok.
She said 'what's on your face?'
Here we go again, I thought. Another person questioning my appearance.
'Nothing', I said.
'What's on your face?', she demanded again.
Mum and I turned around to walk out of the store.
'Be careful of the clothes. I don't want what's on your face to ruin them'.
Yep. She said that. Several times, in a high pitched voice. Bitch.
Now generally, no matter how rude someone is when asking about my appearance, they may have a tiny concern for my wellbeing. Worried I am sunburnt. Worried I am burnt.
Not this woman. She was worried about her second hand clothes in her store, that was already packed the rafters with junk, getting dirty from my vaseline.
Sure, my vaseline poses a problem for the clothes I wear. My washing machine has a work out. I have to carefully choose fabrics so the oil doesn't show up.
But today, I didn't touch anything in her store, let alone rub my face up against them.
Though I defend myself pretty well, I rarely swear.
I said 'fuck you' to her more than four times.
I told her that I was born this way and that my face will not harm her 'fucking clothes'.
In haste, I pushed Mum into another piece of junk in her shop as we walked out.
She followed us out, ranting.
She ranted on the street. She ranted to passers by about how rude I was and that my face would damage her clothes.
There has been one other time in my 28 years that a shopkeeper has queried me about my vaseline ruining their clothes. The other time was about 10 years ago when a lady asked me politely not to touch the hats in the store. She wasn't rude. But I did walk about of the store.
I love shopping, and when I do try on clothes, I take the utmost care to ensure my skin and vaseline doesn't damage the clothes. There have been times when I've felt compelled to buy something if too much of my skin is on the clothing.
But today, I didn't touch anything. Today was unbelievable. I have never felt so worthless, or demeaned in a store.
I felt like going back in there, and smearing vaseline over the junk in the store.
Each time I stand up to someone I feel so proud. Sometimes shaky but so proud.
I felt so good about Megan Gale yesterday. No one should be ridiculed about their looks. Even when you're in the public eye. Especially when you're as beautiful as her.
