In Light of #MeToo Movement, Sarah Hyland Reminds Us That Ariel Winter's Dress is the Least of Our Worries

Gettyimages | Stefanie Keenan

What does Harvey Weinstein have to do with Ariel Winter? A lot, if you think about the #MeToo movement.

On February 23, Sarah Hyland posted a slew of photos in a tribute to her Modern Family costars. What was meant to be a heartfelt goodbye to the show she’s been a part of for over a decade turned into a body-shaming pile-on.

The reason? Ariel Winter’s dress made quite a few people uncomfortable. The sheer material was deemed too revealing and inappropriate for the ABC wrap party.

Gettyimages | Vivien Killilea

Winter has come under fire for her wardrobe choices before.

In 2017, Winter wore a gold mini-dress with slits and sheer material to a Modern Family panel. In October of this year, she wore a floor-length black gown with a plunging neckline to the American Humane Hero Dog Awards.

The list goes on. But for each sexy dress she’s worn in public, she’s been slammed by body shamers. Twitter users have previously commented that she “oozes insecurity” and feels the need to “dress provocative because she’s depicted as a nerd on Modern Family.”

By pointing out that Winter has a history of wearing provocative clothing, internet trolls are essentially claiming that she knew this criticism was coming. In other words, they are allowed to body shame her because she “put herself in that position.”

Gettyimages | Kevin Mazur/Fox

Sarah Hyland is no stranger to the harsh realities of social media. She’s often faced criticism for being too thin, despite the fact that she struggles with chronic health issues and had to have two kidney transplants.

Her fiancé Wells Adams has always been quick to defend her bikini posts, even cursing out some users who claimed to be Hyland’s fans. Under one such post, a user commented “eat a doughnut,” to which Adams retorted, “eat s***t.”

It therefore comes as no surprise that Hyland knew how to deal with the haters in regards to Ariel Winter. She replied to several of them and let her fans know this behavior was NOT okay.

One user wrote, “what’s up with Ariel Winter’s outfit tho” to which Hyland replied “that she’s [fire]?? I KNOW.”

She responded even more strongly to one user who asked her for her opinions on the dress. She wrote: “[Ariel is] a sexy and confident woman. Everyone that is making a negative comment about my sister can back the f*** up because I will not tolerate it.”

Gettyimages | Taylor Hill

After Hyland defended Ariel Winter on Instagram, other celebrities followed suit and voiced their support.

Fiancé Wells Adams, always the protector of Hyland and her friends, wrote “You ladies both look [fire]!!!”

Jessie Tyler Ferguson’s husband, Justin Mikita, also chimed in: “You both look hawt. Holy sh*t.”

Hyland responded to both comments with a slew of emojis and positive exclamations. It seems as though Hyland and her close celebrity friends are attempting to dilute the negative comments with body-positive ones.

Gettyimages | David Dee Delgado

With Harvey Weinstein now facing 5 to 29 years in prison, it may be tempting to think that the #MeToo movement has finally done its job and can be left by the wayside.

However, the regular body shaming of celebrities in Hollywood, especially women, tells us that there is still a lot of work to be done.

One such perpetuator of this type of thinking, Donna Rotunno, happens to be the lead defense lawyer for Weinstein. According to the New York Times, she argued on The Daily that she had never been sexually assaulted "because I would never put myself in that position.”