This Curvy Girl Anthem Isn't Helping (Curvy) Girls

Hey Steph,

I recently got an email from a friend asking my opinions on a song called "I'm All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor. The song has accumulated almost 71 million views on YouTube, but  I had actually not heard the song before her email. The song is all about the appeal of a curvy woman. It's exactly the type of song that you're not allowed to critique because it is "representing" the disenfranchised in our social hierarchy. It's the curvy girl anthem, so if you critique the song, you could be misunderstood to bully curvy girls. But I am going to critique it because this song is not actually helping the curvy girl or any girl at all.

Disclaimer: You can find the song here. Just a warning, I found some of the lyrics to be pretty offensive, so bear that in mind if you choose to listen to it.

Photo Credit: therealcape.com

Here's why I'm not a fan:

1) A big part of the problem of women accepting their bodies stems from comparison. Generally the media only shows a small sliver of body types for women. These women are usually very thin. We see that as glamorous, beautiful, and sexy. While songs like "I'm All About that Bass" and other Pinterest/social media catch phrases like "Real Women Have Curves" may appear to help out this narrow standard of beauty, they are not really fixing the root problem of comparison. They are just replacing it. If propagators of "Real Women Have Curves" had their way, then the beauty ideal would swap from thin women to "curvy" women (which probably would end up being a select size of "curvy"). It's just changing what we compare ourselves to. The problem is comparison. We don't need to put down other women in order to accept ourselves. If we want to create a better beauty ideal, we should be seeking to have women of all body types and ethnicity in our media (where, sadly, I think we will continue to turn for our definition of beauty). This leads me to my next point.

2) Just as we currently have a very narrow physical representation of women in media portrayals, we also have a very narrow view of what it means to be a women as a whole. This song is talking about "accepting" ourselves, but it is really about finding a way to feel beautiful. Unfortunately, liking our looks isn't really going to  make us feel whole and confident because we are complex beings. A better message would be calling out the media for limiting the role of complex women on the screen. What makes the ideal women shouldn't be a discussion about her looks, but a discussion about her strength, her ability to inspire others, her ability to serve, her ability to think. Instead, we are stuck trying to figure out how to feel pretty. It's a waste of time. 

3) It makes me sad that the lyric is "Yeah, my mama she told me don't worry about your size/She says boys like a little more booty to hold at night." Besides the implication that her daughter's worth comes from sexually fulfilling a man (which I'll just leave at that as an obvious offense of women's worth), it's the focus on her size that bothers me. "Mama" is reiterating that she should worry about her size because she suggests that there is a preferred size to be loved by a man. What happens if the daughter slims down? Is she no longer desirable? What if she gains weight? She desirable still? You're not helping, "Mama." I recently read a few studies talking about the power of mothers. Mothers who accept their bodies and don't talk about their weight all of the time transfer those beliefs to their daughters. If Mom loves herself, her daughters will too. That's powerful! We women have the power to break this chain of self-loathing and self-deprecation; we just need to love ourselves first. 

It's frustrating to me that in our attempts to empower women, we so often miss the boat and end up perpetuating the same old problems of comparison and focus on appearances.

Cheers,

Amanda