Why is it that it's only the fuller, "stereotypical sexy" bodies that are seen as positive today? to insult a size 16 girl for her hips would be blasphemy and result in 50+ blog posts on "Body Shaming And The Effects On Women And Why We Must Love All Bodies" plus 3000+ tweets flooding in, hurling abuse at the original poster of the said statement, yet its perfectly acceptable to ridicule girls who don't have protruding bums or shapely, wide hips?
Body-shaming and body positivity are both a two way street.
A song, "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor, was recently released and has since been played worldwide - a popular watched hit on Youtube, as well as being played in public high street shops etc.
The lyrics include:
"Yeah it's pretty clear, I ain't no size two
But I can shake it, shake it like I'm supposed to do
'Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase
All the right junk in all the right places"
"Yeah, my momma she told me don't worry about your size
She says, boys they like a little more booty to hold at night
You know I won't be no stick-figure, silicone Barbie doll"
"I'm bringing booty back
Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches hey"
I fail to see how this is a responsible message to send out, to a wide audience of millions of viewers - both women, men and children of all ages. How is it positive to objectify women and their worth to what "boys like"? who on earth cares what size of "booty" men like to hold at night? is that all women are worth? are we really belittled to such a minuscule amount of value to the point that we have no use or anything worth offering other than body features that are pleasing to men? Songs should not be glorifying this sort of mentality, and then acting as though they are being a positive role-model or empowering to women, because this is quite literally the opposite. Putting down someones size, whether it's a size 20 or a size 2, is unacceptable yet this song receives applauds and respect as though everyone is oblivious to the fact that it completely slanders a dress size. But because it's a smaller size, it's okay right? Why are women "supposed" to shake it? who made up this rule? yet again, succumbing to society's backwards "music video" mentality that women are obliged to act and look a certain way and do certain things such as shaking their arses. also, no one is qualified to deem what the right junk or right places are. Using adjectives such as "stick-figure, silicone barbie doll" and "skinny bitches" is bringing such negative light to an entire body type.
When I tweeted about the irresponsibility and insensitivity of this song, I was hurled abuse by it's appreciators and "fans" of the artist - one of which was from the U.S and apparently a mentor who works with troubled adolescents including those with eating disorders, who told me I must have an eating disorder by loving my thigh gap and having an issue with this "positive" song. Perfect correlation of the song and it's audience/demographics - small things for small minds.
