Though she’s since had to postpone the remainder of the dates on her Where Do We Go? World Tour, Billie Eilish‘s massive global trek kicked off earlier this year with a powerful statement. Back in March, at a show in Miami, Eilish unveiled a short film meant to combat body-shaming as a preface to her song “All the Good Girls Go to Hell.”
Now, she’s shared that film — which had previously only been found circulating in fan-captured footage — in full on her YouTube page. It’s called “Not My Responsibility,” and it features Eilish stripping off layers of her clothes as she asks via voiceover, “Do my shoulders provoke you? Does my chest? Am I my stomach? My hips? The body I was born with, is it not what you wanted?”
Eilish included the full text of her statements in the video’s description, and when read in full, it captures a potent take on both the undue expectations placed on young women as well as the double standards they’re often held to. “If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman,” she says in the video. “If I shed the layers, I’m a slut.”
The singer herself spoke about her decision to wear baggy clothing in a Calvin Klein ad from 2019. “Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath,” she said. The “Not My Responsibility” seeks to take a bit of that power back by swinging it in the opposite direction, with Eilish removing her clothes but on her own terms. The final words of the film speak even more directly to that power imbalance.
we make assumptions about people
based on their size
we decide who they are
we decide what they’re worth
if I wear more
if I wear less
who decides what that makes me?
what that means?
is my value based only on your perception?
or is your opinion of me
not my responsibility
Watch Eilish’s powerful new statement film above.
