I'm Back to Add Necessary Nuance to the Hilary Duff 'Stronger Not Smaller" Discourse

So Hilary Duff did a campaign centered around being “stronger not smaller”, and I found myself cheering when I saw it. I stand by what I said initially: This is a powerful statement at this particular moment in time. We’re receiving so many messages about how women should look, that we should constantly strive to make our bodies as small and dainty as possible in the name of beauty and “femininity”. 

But I’ll own it: I don’t think my first take on this particular campaign included all the necessary nuance. And thanks to other women on the internet who are digging into this, my perspective on the campaign has shifted a bit. And honestly? As a woman who has only ever existed in a straight-sized body without any real effort, I think I approached this from my own privileged lens...and I want to do better.

I’ll start by saying this: I love Hilary Duff and don’t tolerate any slander. But let’s be real here: She is wildly privileged — thin, wealthy, young, white, and IMO, one of the most conventionally beautiful women out there. It’s not brave or revolutionary for someone like Duff to be centered in a fitness campaign, and the images from the campaign do clearly feel more aspirational than raw, real, relatable, courageous, etc. 

People are pointing out that the campaign should have showed the actress in the actual strength-training mode: Struggling to lift heavy weights, gritting her teeth, working up a sweat, as opposed to posing beautifully in a sleek matching set. This is totally valid criticism, IMO.

Dietician Sam Previte offers up a spot-on take on the nuance of it all: “Let talk about why this isn’t as big of a win as people are saying it is,” she says before tackling some of the positives of the campaign. “Sure, she has more muscle or definition than some of the actors and actresses who look emaciated…[but] if you find yourself comparing yourself to Hilary Duff’s body and still saying ‘I wish I looked like that’, then did it really accomplish the goal of having you focus on strength vs. shrinking yourself?”, she adds. 

Here’s the important context: Many of us remember growing up in a time when Duff was considered “big”. When people openly made comments like “she has such a pretty face, it’s a shame she’s not more slender” (yes, really). And as we slide back into so many of the old attitudes about weight and body and diet, I fear we’re heading back to a palace where a thin, straight-sized, conventionally hot woman like Duff is considered less than ideal (as the body type in vogue is increasingly becoming one that looks downright waifish). In light of that, a celebration of strength and fitness rather than just thin-ness feels necessary. 

But you know what else is necessary? An honest conversation about how even ads like this still leave so many people out.