Jameela Jamil Thinks FaceTune Should Be Banned

When Jameela Jamil from The Good Place called the Kardashians “the double agent for the patriarchy” on UK podcast Change the World recently, she was referring to a perception of perfection that constrains women.

In fact, Jamil has a fervent dislike for all the ways we’re fed the idea that we need altering and perfecting. And she doesn’t hold back when it comes to the topic of airbrushing or apps like FaceTune, which smooth wrinkles, cellulite, and curves—and which the Kardashians have been accused of using on their social media photos.

“Ban FaceTune. F**k FaceTune. So angry with FaceTune,” Jamil told ELLE.com at ELLE’s Women in Hollywood event on Monday. “I know I’m going to get taken out and murdered by somebody who works there,” she said, “but I honestly sometimes wonder if cosmetic surgeons invest in it or something, because naturally, if you constantly see your nose tiny, you’re going to want to go out and match what you see in the app. Either way, I don’t think it’s healthy.”

We’re living in a time when movies retouch women’s faces and bodies to look younger and thinner in a process that “costs millions,” Jamil said, and it makes her want to “outlaw airbrushing, because I think it is genuinely one of the most dangerous things that happens to women’s self-esteem.”

Jamil also said that people who airbrush their photos and lie about it should not complain about paparazzi shots that show what they really look like. “If we weren’t lying, they wouldn’t be trying to catch us out,” she said. And secrecy about other kinds of physical changes aren’t her favorite practice, either. “I don’t like it when women have surgery and don’t admit it,” Jamil added. “I think we have to level the playing field…. Now everyone’s in on this weird flawlessness, and I don’t really like that.”

The actress is definitely doing her part to move the focus away from female self-criticism. Earlier this year, she launched her “I Weigh” campaign, which she describes as “a life-positive movement that encourages you to weigh yourself only in your achievements, experience, things you’ve survived, and contributions to society.”

To demonstrate the campaign’s intention, she said, “So, I weigh my relationship, the eating disorder I’ve overcome, the anxiety and the depression I’ve overcome and am still working to overcome now. I am a woman, a human—I am not just a sex object to be objectified or insulted by men.” Amen to that.