You go, Demi Lovato! Demi’s been an outspoken advocate for a healthy body image since she first entered treatment for bulimia, self-harm and bi-polar disorder, and she’s always ready to stand up for what she believes in. A while ago she threw shade at Disney for including eating disorder jokes in its tween programming, and now she’s calling out gossip rags for spreading Kate Middleton pregnancy rumors.

“So apparently Kate Middleton (William?) is pregnant because of THIS picture… Are you KIDDING ME?!!” she tweeted after the magazine Star published a photo of Kate Middleton, whose waist is almost impossibly teeny-weeny-tiny, looking just teeny-tiny. Seriously, you can see the photo here–how in Harry Styles’ name can that be construed as “pregnant?” Come on, people!

Demi made sure to hold Star accountable, then writing, “And people wonder why girls/guys have body image issues.. Whether she is or not, she still has a beautiful body. Shame on you Star magazine.” Bam! Amen, Demi!

The amount of scrutiny all celebs go through can tarnish even the most confident girl’s body image, but Kate Middleton has it even worse than many others, because everyone is so obsessed with her potentially birthing a royal heir that she can’t fasten a sash too tightly or munch on anything salty without being pegged as pregnant with the next Prince of Wales. It’s incredibly damaging and scary, because not only does Kate have to deal with the body image issues that come with being in the spotlight, but what if she actually was pregnant and lost the baby? Or what if she was trying and couldn’t conceive? That isn’t anything anyone wants thrown in her own face, let alone plastered on newsstands for the entire world to see.

What’s more, Kate Middleton had to deal with people complaining on her wedding day that she was too thin. The woman can’t win–and neither can we if people keep buying into this crap.

Men don’t have to deal as much with living under a microscope because they can’t bear children. And that’s not their fault. But the fact that we just happened to be born with two X-chromosomes shouldn’t make us susceptible to pregnancy rumors, either. You never hear someone going, “Oh, look at the bags under Liam Hemsworth’s eyes–he looks stressed out. Is he going to be a father soon?!”

Just like pitting successful women against each other, claiming that someone is pregnant whenever she’s photographed at an imperfect angle is, whether these tabloid writers believe or know it or not, a form a sexism, because it’s a form of demeaning women exclusively and preying on our insecurities. It’s damaging not only to the subject of the article, but also to everyone who glances at it–because it’s like, “Whoa. If Kate Middleton pregnancy rumors spawned from a picture like that, does that mean the whole world thinks I’m the next Octomom?”

The solution? You can call out these fools on FB or Twitter like Demi Lovato did, and you can voice your opinion with your purse: Don’t buy into them and don’t buy them!

Do you think magazines encourage poor body image? Do you think Demi Lovato was right in calling out Star for spreading Kate Middleton pregnancy rumors? Tell us in the comments!

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