Actress Ashley Judd has taken aim at the media for jumping to conclusions and suggesting she had undergone cosmetic surgery after the star's face appeared 'puffy' on a TV show.
The Frida star has written a piece for online newspaper The Daily Beast, re-iterating that her appearance was the result of steroid medication for a cold and reprimanding careless journalists and bloggers who were quick to report she had gone under the knife.
Calling the stories an "assault" on female body image, Judd writes, "The hypersexualization of girls and women and subsequent degradation of our sexuality... is what this conversation allegedly about my face is really about."
And she admits she was upset to learn that many of those who stated she had "clearly had work done" were women.
The actress adds, "That women are joining in the ongoing disassembling of my appearance is salient.
"This abnormal obsession with women's faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times — I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly. We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women."
She concludes her article by writing, "I hope the sharing of my thoughts can generate a new conversation: Why was a puffy face cause for such a conversation in the first place?. If this conversation about me is going to be had, I will do my part to insist that it is a feminist one, because it has been misogynistic from the start."