I know 'Anaconda' and 'All About That Bass' have both been out for a while, but I was thinking about them this morning after listening to the latter on my daily drive to work...two words that caught my attention more than normal this morning were 'skinny bitches.' Skinny. Bitches. It went round and round my head. What an absolutely awful thing to say about someone. And it's in both songs. Skinny bitches.
I'm not skinny, never have been - never will be with the amount of alcohol and carbs I consume - but I am NOT ON BOARD with the constant 'be this, be that' mentality. If you're curvy, great, but that doesn't mean you have the right to insult slim people. If you're slim, also great, but that doesn't automatically give you gains to be mean about the extra weight on some. It's not hard.
Everything about that AATB song makes me go 'eurgh' to be honest. It is NOT empowering to women because we're talking about the body-image-of-an-average-female-in-a-positive-way - it might be 'bigging up the booty', yes, but it's dissing skinny and is also generally insulting to all women in another way. It's just sending such a horrible message. This one verse sums up the whole issue I have with it:
I'm not skinny, never have been - never will be with the amount of alcohol and carbs I consume - but I am NOT ON BOARD with the constant 'be this, be that' mentality. If you're curvy, great, but that doesn't mean you have the right to insult slim people. If you're slim, also great, but that doesn't automatically give you gains to be mean about the extra weight on some. It's not hard.
Everything about that AATB song makes me go 'eurgh' to be honest. It is NOT empowering to women because we're talking about the body-image-of-an-average-female-in-a-positive-way - it might be 'bigging up the booty', yes, but it's dissing skinny and is also generally insulting to all women in another way. It's just sending such a horrible message. This one verse sums up the whole issue I have with it:
'I'm bringing booty back
Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that -
No, I'm just playing. I know you think you're fat.'
Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that -
No, I'm just playing. I know you think you're fat.'
Instead of coming across like 'Oh great, she knows that a lot of us are body conscious and is standing up for womenkind (choir of angels sings 'hallelujah' at this point) by singing about body image in a good way, yeah!' it just riles me because it makes me think she thinks the following, and is sending these messages:
- calling someone a bitch because they have less body fat than another is A-OKAY.
- saying 'I'm just playing' excuses an insult.
- that we're all expected to think we're fat, and that if you don't have an issue with your body then you're, what? Arrogant?
I hate the self-righteousness of that line especially. 'I know you think you're fat.' How fucking dare you, Trainor.
I have slightly less of an issue with Nicki Minaj's song because I do feel that there's a bit of tongue in cheek when she's (literally) wailing about clubs and buns and asses and the like - the whole song is ridiculous and it knows it, but I still imagine that there are a lot of girls who were a bit like 'Hold up, Minaj - just because my arse wasn't built to twerk and isn't a bit jiggly doesn't mean you can yell 'Fuck those skinny bitches in the club' at me. Repeatedly. Cheers and all.'
I'm not a skinny girl siding with the skinny community in this blog, I'm a slightly flabby girl who has an issue with the constant messages about what you should and shouldn't be within the conformity of society, perpetuated by the media and ourselves...sigh...
So, in short, CAN WE ALL JUST STOP BEING SO JUDGEMENTAL AND BE NICE TO EACH OTHER AND HELP BUILD EACH OTHER UP INSTEAD OF TEARING EACH OTHER DOWN, WHATEVER SIZE WE FLIPPING ARE!?
Ahem.
Please?
Nice post, Riley.
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