Jennifer Aniston: The 'scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing'

In an essay for The Huffington Post, Jennifer Aniston wrote that after years of treating tabloids as material "not to be taken seriously," she now views gossip as being "the business of lies."

"The reality is the stalking and objectification I've experienced first-hand, going on decades now, reflects the warped way we calculate a woman's worth," Aniston said. "The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing," and the media is giving girls the idea they are "not pretty unless they're incredibly thin, that they're not worthy of our attention unless they look like a supermodel or an actress on the cover of a magazine." This conditioning is "something girls then carry into womanhood," Aniston continued. "We use celebrity 'news' to perpetuate this dehumanizing view of females, focused solely on one's physical appearance, which tabloids turn into a sporting event of speculation."

Speaking of speculation, Aniston is tired of the unending reports that she is pregnant, a "perpetuation of this notion that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if they're not married with children." She's not expecting now, she says, and if she is in the future, she'll let everyone know. For now, Aniston would like everyone to change their "awareness and reaction to the toxic messages buried within these seemingly harmless stories served up as truth and shaping our ideas of who we are." Read her entire essay at The Huffington Post.

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