What ARE We All About?

We currently live in a period of time where feminism is a strong theme in everyday life, body shaming is no where near okay, and self love is very important among everyone. I'm not sure how these trends started, but I'm so glad they did. But, as happy as I am that I can't go to any social media site without seeing something about one of these themes, I'm also a bit off put by some of the media surrounding these subjects. One of the bigger portions of media that has stirred up controversy among these subjects is pop singer Meghan Trainor's song, "All About That Bass."

The song has become an anthem for many women who are said to be more "curvy" than others, which I honestly find great. Being bigger shouldn't be a shameful thing, and I'm really glad that that's out there. However, as much as the song has it's high points, it's also got a lot of lows. As much as I love to hear that every inch of me is perfect from the bottom to the top, I'm not so sure that I like to hear that the reason I should be okay with having a little more "booty" is because that's the way guys like it. This idea comes from the line "my mama, she told me, don't worry about your size. She said that boys like a little more booty to hold at night." I don't think that in a world where feminism is rising that girls should love their bodies because boys do. 

I'm not the only one who thinks so, either, This Instagram video by the user "mobrienorwhatever," was posted on the subject, The new lyrics say "fuck what boys think, it's your body so do as you like." And, however crude or funny you might find this short video to be, it's very true. No girl should ever feel empowered by her body just because a guy likes her that way. It's 2015, and we've got to start loving ourselves because IT'S WHO WE ARE, IT'S HOW WE WERE BORN, AND IT ISN'T GOING TO CHANGE, and that should be okay.  

This isn't the only problem encountering the song and it's video. While the song promotes women who have curves, it very much shames people who do not. It refers to girls without curves as "skinny bitches" and "stick figure silicone barbie dolls." The smaller girls in the video seemed more ditzy, more rude and just overall not nice people. This is the WRONG message to be sending out. Smaller girls should love their bodies too, they don't need to spend their time figuring out how to gain weight so they can "shake it like they're supposed to do," just as much as curvy girls shouldn't be worrying about losing weight to be like smaller girls.  There's no reason to be shaming girls who are smaller, don't hate them for their metabolisms, they can't help it. This is also something that I think many people can agree on, and YouTube user Natty Valencia expanded on it and made her own rendition of the song, that includes all woman, skinny, curvy, black white, and encourages them to forget about guys who don't accept them the way they are. 

I think this is a really great way to approach the matter, because the tune is catchy, and it's something people catch onto. I hope all women get to see this version of the song, because it's really important that we stop body shaming, and we start loving ourselves for who we are.