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Feminism In Music: When Song Lyrics Are 'Not Feminist Enough'

Michelle Tiu |
September 24, 2014 | 4:03 p.m. PDT

Entertainment Producer

Is "All About That Bass" truly a body positive song? (@LOMASHOT / Twitter)
Is "All About That Bass" truly a body positive song? (@LOMASHOT / Twitter)
Meghan Trainor's Top 40 hit "All About That Bass" has been getting a lot of criticism lately.

Besides allegations of plagiarism, the upbeat tune has also been slammed for its lyrics because although "All About That Bass" does promote body positivity and loving your curves, it also seems to diss skinny girls.

In one verse, Trainor sings, "I'm bringing booty back / Go ahead and tell them skinny b----hes that," which many people have taken offense to.

Defenders of the song say that the criticism is unfair because it's coming from a position of privilege - skinny women are not stigmatized in the way that bigger women are and they are usually favored in today's society.

Of course, another point of criticism for "All About That Bass" is that, while encouraging women to love their bodies even if they "ain't no size two," Trainor's lyrics also seem to measure a woman's attractiveness by the number of men she can get (see lines: "'Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase" and "Yeah, my mama she told me 'Don't worry about your size' / She says, 'Boys like a little more booty to hold at night'").

READ MORE: I <3 Feminists Who Critique Other Feminists 

Another recent hit, Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda," has also been analyzed for its "skinny shaming" lyrics. The rapper repeats variations of the phrase "F--k those skinny b---hes" in the last verse of her "Baby Got Back"-sampling song.

In a Bustle article about these two songs, Kadeen Griffiths writes, "I'm really loving all the popular songs devoted to giving the spotlight to girls of every body type, but wouldn't it be a more positive message to do that without tearing down girls of other body types?"

Overall, "All About That Bass" and "Anaconda" promote positive messages to "curvier" women, but there is still an underlying current of hypocrisy in the lyrics. Are these songs truly positive - or even at all feminist - if they use arguably derogatory phrases to describe other types of women?

Reach Entertainment Producer Michelle Tiu here and follow her on Twitter.



 

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