The music industry doesn’t have the best track record for it’s depiction of women; we’re constantly referred to as “shorties” or “sexy bitches” by rappers, and depicted as skinny, well-endowed strippers in music videos. Now women singers have been using music to spread messages of female empowerment, particularly with body image. “All About That Bass” and “Anaconda” are two popular examples of strong women embracing their bodies and daring anyone to criticize their sizes. Unfortunately, their anger is directed at the wrong people.
Society is the one that sets up impossible standards for women to fill; how we act, talk, and most importantly look is a balancing act. Either we’re slutty for dressing provocatively or prudes for not showing enough skin; bossy when we voice our opinions but sure to be ignored if we never speak up. Body image is no worse; we’re expected to have unreal body proportions, to have big boobs and hips but a size 00 waist. Society gives us fake, photoshopped models and demand we look like them, setting us up to fail. This is what singers like Nicki and Meghan are protesting against with their songs, but they aren’t targeting society; they’re targeting women with different body types.
Both songs, while supporting embracing your figure, make negative references to the “skinny bitches” in the club or in the magazines. While I love rocking out to both of these songs, those lyrics are counter-productive to the body positivity movement that’s recently taken off. Girls can be even more judgemental than boys when it comes to each others’ bodies. Skinny or curvy, we’re all victims of constant judgement, from not having a thigh gap to thighs that are too thin. We should be teaming up against society’s idea of a perfect body, not tearing each other down because of our different figures. Female musicians shouldn’t spread girl hate, but rather general body positivity for everyone, and we all need to show society we won’t be defined by our figures no matter what size we are. So while I’ll still be jamming to Anaconda whenever it’s on the radio, I hope an even catchier song comes on that refers to society’s impossible body standards as the “bitches”.