By the time you read this, it will be a Sunday and the day after the Eurovision song contest final. The whole island will be abuzz with our result. Men and women regardless of their age and sexual orientation will either be saying that we deserved to win (which we do) or that we should never take part again because the voting system is unfair (which it can be).

Names of countries never visited will be mispronounced by old men in the village square pretending to social distance with their masks under their noses, and everyone will recall that their second cousin once dated/knew/bought a saucepan from a man from Azerbaijan. And then we can wrap the whole experience in plastic, like those velvet three-piece sofa sets that only the priest would sit on once a year and bring it out again in 2022.

Only there is something far more important that needs to be discussed before then.

We live in an age where likes, shares and views are a currency. Appearances have never mattered more especially since your looks are now open to commentary from everyone. On every platform, in every space, people are instructed to be kind and courteous to others, and yet, despite all this supposed awareness, the barrage of hate and nastiness which I encounter daily is at an all-time high.

I can’t help thinking about what a prominent beauty blogger said on social media recently when she asked why people she doesn’t know are messaging hate directly to her for no reason instead of bitching quietly to their friends about her behind her back. And this brings me to that pink rehearsal dress and the vastly unnecessary furore that came with it.

Before the opinion Nazis come for me, I want to reiterate that there is nothing wrong with stating an opinion, if and only if, that opinion is at least somewhat well-informed, relevant to context and ultimately, based on fairness. Coming out and just saying that you hate something is not particularly helpful to anyone.

When did some extra meat become something so shameful and abhorrent that we can’t bear for it to be seen?- Anna Marie Galea

I mean, I am glad that you got something off your chest but other than that, it serves zero purpose in a public sphere. Going after an 18-year-old girl for a dress that you think is inappropriate because her body shape is making you uncomfortable is not only uncalled for but it is callous and again, deeply unnecessary. There are Eurovision singers competing in get-ups that would make a Moulin Rouge dancer blush, but that’s okay because their body sizes are deemed to be safe.

I’ve seen comment after comment, saying that people need to dress to flatter their shape, but the fact is that that is what our bodies are: just shapes. Some of us are big, some of us are small, some of us are shaped like potatoes. Isn’t it the same skin that is being covered?

When did some extra meat become something so shameful and abhorrent that we can’t bear for it to be seen?

Bigger people have bellies just like everyone else and if they are happy to show them off at the beach, why should I pontificate from my towel? If you’re uncomfortable in a short, pink dress then just don’t wear it but claiming that we might lose a competition because of it is just a suitable excuse for people to hide their prejudices behind and nothing more. And how do I know this?

There was barely a single bleat about what the backup dancers were wearing, that is why. Think before you tweet.