In Which I Talk About Butts (And their Portrayal in Music/The Media) Part I

"Why should you care, what they think of you / When you're all alone, by yourself / Do you like you?"

So I'm sure a lot of you know about that song by Meghan Trainor "All About that Bass" by now. It's a good, very popular song, with very good intentions behind it, but I find that in certain parts, it seems that the quest to do good went on a bit of a detour. Now I'd like to make it clear I am not here to attack Meghan Trainor, and/or her song but I'd just like to point out some things that I found important.

For any of those of you who don't know, I am a huge Ellen fan and that's actually how I found out about the song in the first place. She is amazing and so kind, but at the same time I feel like  her good intentions do a bit of a swerve sometimes. If you saw the first couple of shows from season 12, you'd probably remember that it was very full of butts. 

Meghan Trainor was on and performed "All about that Bass" Nikki Minaj was on, and Ellen poked some fun at her "Anaconda" video. 

I want to talk about this, because while these songs are generally portrayed as "body positive" I find there's a bit of discrepancy between the intent of the actions and the impact of them. 

I wrote the majority of this blog post about a month ago, but wanted to let it sit for a bit so I could really figure out where I wanted it to go. Then I started getting busy and it sat for what seemed like too long, but since Ms. Trainor was just on Ellen again I figured this was a good time as any to finally put it up. So here goes: 

I really love that a song based on positive body image is receiving

such a positive response, however there are some parts of the lyrics I find problematic. The chorus starts "Yeah my mamma told me don't worry about your size" Upon hearing that my inner dialogue went "That's a good message!" But then it continues "She says "boys like a little more booty to hold tonight." now this line... did not make my inner dialogue as happy. Because well, it seems to perpetuate the same ideas we're trying to get away from, the only difference is that it's for the flipside. 

Because is it not true that the problem isn't we feel the need to be skinny, but that we feel the need to be skinny FOR OTHER PEOPLE. And this line is still basing ideals for the way your body should be on pleasing other people. But the only person your body needs to please is yourself. 

And you might say "oh but I do try to lose weight/gain weight/ become a zebra etc for myself." But do you really? Do you want to change your body so it is healthier or do you want to change it so others will find it more appealing? I think if most people think about it for a bit, they will have to say it's because they want it to seem more appealing, but the thing is appearance shouldn't be so important to us - you're only going to ever see yourself in a reflection, and at most that is usually no more than a few times a day. 

When we whittle it down to the core, this obsession with appearance is not for yourself it is for others. Jennifer Lawrence said it perfectly in a response to a question about body image a while back "What are you going to do, be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's dumb." (More of what she said here). 

The same thing applies here, and to be honest that quote really stuck with me right from the first time I heard it, it makes a powerful statement about the pressure to be skinny, but it was also possibly the first time someone brought up the fact that often this abuse we subject our bodies to isn't even to improve ourselves.  

Also I'm not a fan of "Yeah it's pretty clear I ain't no size two/but I can shake it shake it/ like I'm supposed to do." this is kind of saying that your butt is for shaking. What about the people who aren't comfortable doing that? How do they feel when they hear this? Isn't it possible that saying something like this might cause someone to do something they're not comfortable with? 


And what about the people that are naturally really skinny and tiny? Some parts could be interpreted as skinny-shaming. I saw a comment on Facebook that just nailed it in addressing this part of the song, it went something like "It's great to promote body positivity, but it's not right to be putting other people down to make you feel better." and in truth, this song does do some of that. 

You might say "Okay wait, Maggs you are like totally over-analyzing" but my over-analyzing means someone else might over-analyze and if they think about it in the way I was pointing toward, well they might end up really hurt. 

If you want an example of a song I think translates good intent into actions with good impact beautifully that would be Colbie Caillet's "Try" 

♪ All about that health, 'bout that health, 'bout that health ♪

If the way your body is does not affect your health in any way, then that's wonderful, but I feel like now that we're trying to get away from the need to be skinny, but it's still not health that is taking the forefront.  Health SHOULD be in the forefront because if every material possession you own is taken away, your body is all you're going to have, and if you abuse it, it's you that will suffer, and it's you that will feel the consequences.  So why are we not "All about that health, 'bout that health, 'bout that health"? 

I do want a society that's more accepting of the diverse range of body types, but at the same time I don't think it's appropriate to well practically promote having overfat body types and obesity, because that's not good either.  Both being too skinny and having too much body fat are both not good for you. So I guess the ideal sort of message I find might be the best to communicate is that "As long as you are healthy, it doesn't matter what your body looks like" and "If you want to change something about yourself, do it for you, do it because you want to".

And I know there's no way to do anything without offending/angering/ and/or antagonizing SOMEONE in some way shape or form but I'd just like to get people to stop and think a little bit more and possibly reconsider doing something that might hurt someone. 

And on the flip-side I think that we, the general population shouldn't take everything the media, or even just other people, tell you on face value. Take a moment to separate what is acceptable in fantasy versus what is acceptable in reality and remember that just because others say something that doesn't mean you need to go out and do that and not wanting to do what they say doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. 

Now please don't go off and say I'm telling everyone to disregard what others tell you. Often what others say have some kind of merit, just not always. It's up to you to choose what you believe and what you don't, just keep the value of yourself in mind when you're doing so. 

At the end of the day, the question to ask is "Do you like you?" 

I know this is really long, but this stuff needs to be said. Anyway of you made it this far thank you for reading. Whether you'll despair or rejoice at this I'm not sure but I'm not done with this topic, check back in a couple of days and I'll have posted the part II to this, there's just so much to say. But what do you people think so far? Agree, disagree, somewhere in the middle? Did you like this second legit blog post? Share your opinions with me in the comments. Also I am still on the lookout for you people that are helping to promote this page. ;) 

-- Maggs