Why I Believe Fashion Police Should Be Banned!

The Fashion Police show has been one of the most popular shows across the globe. But it needs to be banned. Here's why.

The Fashion Police show has been one of the most popular shows across the globe. But it needs to be banned. Here’s why.

Fashion Police is a popular show in more than 38 countries around the world. The show was launched by E! Network in America, and was hosted by the late comedienne Joan Rovers. I strongly believe that this show should be taken off-air for good. Here’s why.

The show started in 2010, with four hosts and a small studio, and has now become the most popular show on E!

The show begins with ‘Must see carpet looks’ – where pictures and clips of celebrity red carpet looks are shown and remarked on by the four hosts. This is when the demeaning of women begins. The late Joan Rivers would always use a witty, usually insulting-yet-funny one-liner to describe the dress or the person, which is always a woman.

Fashion Police is watched by a younger female demographic, who are constantly instilled with the notion that if they not dressed in or look a particular way, they’re ugly.

The show’s popularity rose to unimaginable heights, encouraging various countries to adapt this format for their TV shows. But my argument is that the title doesn’t justify its purpose. ‘Fashion Police’ is meant to talk about fashion, not about the individual wearing the dress. Fashion Police is watched by a younger female demographic, who are constantly instilled with the notion that if they not dressed in or look a particular way, they’re ugly.

Another reason why it demeans women is because of  the ‘Bitch stole my look’ segment. Celebrities are caught wearing similar dresses, and pitted against each other, while hosts give their opinion as to who wore it better, insinuating that the one who didn’t look pretty was the ‘Copy Cat’, who should be shunned. This is another form of bullying. Two girls can like the same outfit, and can accessorise it in different ways. Instead of respecting that, branding the deviant as a ‘Copy Cat’ only hurts the person.

This next segment has irked me since it’s the most sexist segment of this show. ‘Rack attack’. Yes, they post pictures of women’s upper pectoral region and guess whose ‘rack’ it is. They also comment on how awful or good their ‘real or fake rack’ appears in the dress their wearing. This is a breach against any woman’s privacy. It doesn’t matter whether she’s a celebrity or not; posting pictures of a woman body parts on national television is appalling.

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The other segment which is equally disgusting is, ‘Guess me from behind’. They post pictures of celebrities when they are bending down, or when their back is turned, and play a game of ‘Guess who the horribly dressed celebrity is?’. There have pictures of celebrities in short skirts, and bikinis, who have been shamed to no end by the hosts.

Joan Rivers put the red carpet on the map and began insulting those who ever dressed distinctly, encouraging bullying among young girls. Her comments like, ‘The only thing I’ve seen more yellow and disgusting than that skirt is Hugh Hefner’s diaphragm’, often went unnoticed because she was a legendary comedienne who never apologised for her comments, and never cared for accusations.

But once, her comment about Heidi Klum’s outfit invoked rage among many Jewish people. Joan refused to apologise, stating that the ‘wrong group was offended, and it was just a joke.’

The show would have A – list designers and celebrities commenting on other celebrities,  further increasing the ill-will they already had, or instigating such feelings among other celebrities

The show would have A – list designers and celebrities commenting on other celebrities, further increasing the ill-will they already had, or instigating such feelings among other celebrities.  Many strong feminist celebrities spoke up and were against the airing of this show, but due to its popularity and TRPs, the show still went strong until Joan’s death.

After Joan’s death, comedienne Kathy Griffin took over the show and quit after 7 episodes because she felt that she was disrespecting everyone’s individual taste and style. She received accolades for doing so. Co-host Kelly Osbourne who was on the show for 4 years with Joan Rivers quit the show after Guiliana Rancic made a racist comment about another celebrity.

The show went off-air due to the ruckus it caused, and is said to be back in September, after it is ‘revamped’. The show which was supposed to be about fashion turned into another racist fiasco for the E! network. It has just reinforced what is ‘ideal’, and shunned what is ‘real’. Why should they air a show which doesn’t help the viewers in anyway and has only negative effects on them?

Hopefully, a time will come where such shows are never made.

Red carpet entry image via Shutterstock

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About the Author

Sanjana Raman

READ MY BOOK - CHASING RAINBOWS LINK - https://www.amazon.in/CHASING-RAINBOWS-Reaching-Skies-Book-ebook/dp/B01N24ISXI?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0 I'm a writer, avid reader, otaku and there read more...

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