fbpx
33.9 F
Spokane
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeCommentaryBlogsThe Booty Battles: Meghan Trainor takes a vocal swing at the Skinny...

The Booty Battles: Meghan Trainor takes a vocal swing at the Skinny Girls

Date:

Related stories

My Journey through Homelessness Part Five: Learning to Live Outside the Box

The value of my homeless experience lies not so much in having learned how to live outside — at least not in the geographical sense. The value of my homeless experience lies in having learned how to live outside the box.

Lost in Translation: Isn’t It Time We Moved Beyond a Fear-Based Repentance?

When I hear the kingdom is at hand, followed immediately by the command to repent, the good news is overshadowed by the fear that I’m not good enough to be part of the kingdom of God.

Inspiring Others: How Our Marriage Turned 50

As we prepare to celebrate 50 years there are so many thoughts and memories going through my head. I have joked about how I don't know how you've put up with me for this long, which is really true in a sense with my Irish enthusiasm and temper.

Taking the Road ‘Less Traveled by’ Has Made ‘All the Difference’

Pete Haug remembers hearing Robert Frost read his poem "The Road not Taken" 65 years ago. It reminded him of his spiritual journey out of the Christianity of his youth into choosing the Baha'i faith as an adult.

Ask an EOC: Can You Confess in Private to God but not in Church Confession and be Forgiven?

Concerning the sacrament of Confession, Christ directly gave the authority to his Church to remit or retain the sins of the penitent. 

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img

[todaysdate]

By Eric Blauer


Meghan Trainor’s song: ‘All About The Bass’ heads the top five of Billboard’s top 100 songs for a second straight week. People are loving the song even if some are hating on the conflicting body-positivity claims.

The music industry thrives on controversy and the artists benefit from all the focus on their work. Nothing stirs up the drama more than when people start jiggling the junk in the trunk, be it Miley Cyrus and her twerking phase of going way back to 1992’s Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”. Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Big Butt” anthem was an atrocious song packed full of sexist and profane lyrics but as they all seem to do, it had a catchy tune.

“I like big butts and I can not lie…”  – Sir Mix-A-Lot’s song: ‘Baby Got Back’

The ‘All About The Bass’ lyrical lightening rods are the parts of the song that seems to place one’s sense of self-acceptance on what “boys like” and the use of a derogatory word to describe skinny girls.

“Yeah, it’s pretty clear I ain’t no size two
But I can shake it, shake it like I’m supposed to do
‘Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase
And all the right junk in all the right places
Yeah, my mama she told me don’t worry about your size
She says, “Boys like a little more booty to hold at night.”
I’m bringing booty back
Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that
No I’m just playing. I know you think you’re fat
But I’m here to tell ya
Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top”
-Meghan Trainor’s : All About That Bass

 
I get the feminist cultural critique but part of me feels like the skinny girls seem a bit touchy getting toppled off their haloed thigh-gap thrones for a short while. Being fat has been a status that has brought unending examples of public shaming in all forms of media for decades. It’s the damning ‘mark of Cain’ in teen culture and the plague of the idolatrous ‘youth-worshipping’ adult culture that can’t face the fact of aging.

Many have been fed a cash cow lie from two ends, one promises a fountain of youth and the other promises to save you from old age. Our sacred altars are the multibillion dollar industry of fitness gyms, the plethora of revolving diets, supplement supper zones, surgeries to nip, tuck or plump, weight loss shows that make false promises and a clothing industry that has just started calling a 12 an 11 just to make everyone feel better about themselves.

It’s tough for young people to cultivate a secure sense of personhood in today’s booty battle fox holes. The dream of a peaceful neutral-zone where everyone is accepted just as they are and no one is brutalized for being different would be ideal. But the reality is the Barbies and Kens of the world have been reigning like a privileged aristocracy forever in tinsel town and on main street. Is it any surprise that the masses sometimes rise up in solidarity to claim some of the spot light and spoils for themselves? 

I don’t think anyone is building guillotines, they are just blowing off decades of underprivileged steam. Every hunger game has it’s Katniss Everdeen and for many people, Meghan Trainor represents those voices that promise liberty from the overexposed, beauty bourgeois. 

It’s unfortunate that we often feel the need to step on others to get higher up the ladder of self aggrandizement but in this case, I get it, even if it isn’t the best way to shine.
Eric Blauer
Eric Blauerhttp://fcb4.tumblr.com/
I am Frederick Christian Blauer IV, but I go by Eric, it sounds less like a megalomaniac but still hints at my Scandinavian destiny of coastal conquest and ultimate rule. I have accumulated a fair number of titles: son, brother, husband, father, pastor, writer, artist and a few other more colorful titles by my fanged fans. I am a lover of story be it heard, read or watched in all beauty, gory or glory. I write and speak as an exorcist or poltergeist, splashing holy water, spilling wine and breaking bread between the apocalypse and a sleeping baby. I am possessed by too many words and they get driven out like wild pigs and into the waters of my blog at www.fcb4.tumblr.com. I work as a pastor at Jacob's Well Church (www.jacobswellspokane.com) across the tracks on 'that' side of town. I follow Christ in East Central Spokane among saints, sinners, angels, demons, crime, condoms, chaos, beauty, goodness and powerful weakness. I have more questions than answers, grey hairs than brown, fat than muscle, fire than fireplace and experience more love from my wife, family and friends than a man should be blessed with in one lifetime.

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img
spot_img

4 COMMENTS

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
4 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Eric Blauer
9 years ago

The Skinny Girls speak out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-61ESJUWNn0

Jan Shannon
9 years ago

I just heard this song for the first time yesterday, and it was recommended to me by a mom of teen girls who likes it for the positive body messages. My only argument with it, well, I have a couple, is the sexual binary it espouses, ’cause, trust me, boys aren’t necessarily the only ones who like to hold onto something at night. The other complaint is the use of pejoratives like the B-word which I really wish would just STOP being used by anyone but especially women. That word has been the bane of female existence for a long, long time, and the current trend to using it as a pet name for your BFF’s just sickens me. Anywho, I’m all for positive body images, and anything that lowers the stress level of our teens, girls and boys, but I sure wish songwriters would knock-off the sexual binary language. This song could have been just as funny and pointed without the “get a boy” talk. That message alone puts MORE pressure on a girl, regardless of her sexual orientation.

Eric Blauer
9 years ago
Reply to  Jan Shannon

I agree Jan, there are ways to speak out about body positivity better. But I understand the angst in the song, having walked with people who struggle deeply with the wounds of a society that worships a version of beauty above all else and sacrifices the young on that altar.

Jan Shannon
9 years ago
Reply to  Eric Blauer

Oh, and I watched the video after I wrote my reply, (I’d heard the song many times so I wrote from that basis) and I think there is a portrayal in the song of some LGBTQI behavior…but that’s probably up for interpretation. Anyway, if it is such, then my earlier comment isn’t really correct. 🙁

spot_img
4
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x