Have you guys seen this upsurge in body positive music lately? And by upsurge, I mean two in the past six months. And by body positive, I mean women who aren't exactly large saying stuff about being bigger. Whatever, that's cool, and it's relatively nice. Even if it's halfhearted at the best.
Now, with these two songs ("All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor, and "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj), there is a new wave of people yelling BUT WHAT ABOUT SKINNY-SHAMING all over the place. I mean, yeah, both of these songs have lines akin to the whole, "Real women have curves" thing, but let's be real here.
People are using these songs as base camp for their panic, since they're clearly new to body positivity that comes at their expense. Never mind the fact that so much of this movement is comprised of women with hourglass figures and flat bellies. Never mind the fact that, to the media, plus-size starts at a size six and ends at fourteen—maybe sixteen if you're hot. I'm absolutely not saying that these people aren't necessarily plus, that they're not allowed to sit with us. I'm also not saying that they don't or can't belong in a movement about body positivity—I'm saying that I can't stand that the public face of this important movement looks nothing like the people struggling.
Because of this, people see this movement as nothing more than slightly bigger women telling skinny women that they are just the worst and that "boys like a little more booty to hold at night."
I mean, let's all ignore the fact that fat discrimination is pretty much a constant in our society. Let's forget that obesity is considered a disease by the AMA; that people have been refused medical care simply for being fat; that fat people are not only less likely to get hired, but also less likely to receive raises and promotions. Let's ignore every second of that, of a world that I can barely fit in sometimes, of being told I'm pretty "for a fat girl," of a six billion dollar industry designed to get rid of me. Let's forget about all of that and focus on these two songs that made fun of skinny women.
Right.
Okay.
I feel like we're starting to hit a place where we can make some real, genuine changes that don't come at the expense of other people, and we could do so much if we only let people who were actually fat (as opposed women like Meghan Trainor) speak out.
Also, here's a link to an article that explains everything that's wrong about Trainor's video, and the cutest song ever by Mary Lambert. Oh, and here's an article about how skinny-shaming and fat discrimination aren't the same thing.
And please remember: skinny-shaming is a bad thing, and I've written on that before. It's damaging to fat acceptance as a movement, because shaming someone cause of their body type is pretty much the literal exact opposite of what we're trying to do. Just don't do the thing. But the most important thing to take away from this is the skinny-shaming does NOT equal fat discrimination, in any world, ever.
Finally: I am cute.
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| Ah, the involvement fair. Ah, bio club. |
Dress (worn as skirt): WalMart | Tee: bio club! As you see on the table! | Sunglasses: Claire's | Shoes: DIY
