Meghan Trainer’s popular song “All About That Bass” was designed to be body-positive, but it epically fails at that. When analyzing the lyrics, it sends the message that heterosexual men will always prefer women with “curves” to girls who are thin. I’m not sure if a term has been created for this effect, but I’ve dubbed it “slim-girl-shaming.” If the song were actually body-positive or promoted physical acceptance, it would instead feature several different body shapes and sizes. Even though Trainer is adorable and the song is relatively catchy, her body size would be considered average, not overweight or “plus-size.”
Speaking of plus size, according to a recent "Cosmopolitan" article by Laura Beck, “In the fashion industry, 'plus size' is a term for models who are size 8 and up. But in the real world, most people would never think of a size 8 as plus size — most plus-size clothing doesn't even start until a size 16.” Media and fashion magazines are now portraying normal sized women as plus sized, and size 2 as the new average.
In recent years, body sizes continuously grow larger, (thanks to the plethora of easily accessible fast food) while societal standards of body shapes have grown smaller; today defined as “ultra-thin.” This discrepancy makes it nearly impossible to achieve society’s “ideal body.” Although many women strive to look like the models in fashion advertisements, many of the models are approximately 20% below their individual healthy body weight, therefore meeting the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa.
Recently, there has been a movement to bring about body acceptance, but what about the girls who are thin naturally? If others are encouraged to love their curves, why can’t girls who are a size two also feel good about themselves?
Regardless of your weight or size, the goal is to be healthy. Everyone has a different healthy weight that is based on gender, height, and other factors. Throw in the recent “Dad bod” trend (the fact that terms like this exist is why I have little faith in humanity) and you have plenty situations where people are justifying their unhealthy lifestyles by putting down others who do choose to live healthy.
I am 5’10 and 125 pounds. I eat mostly what I want, and wear a size 3 in jeans. I work out every once in a while, but no more than the average person. I’m naturally thin and my whole life I’ve been told to “eat a cheeseburger” and have been told “I’d blow away in the wind.” I’ve been called “twiggy,” “bones,” and “stick.” It would not be acceptable to call a larger person “fatty” or “cow,” or make any derogatory comment about their weight, so why should putting down thin people be tolerated?
My point is that we should forget about shaming one body type or the other. The perfect body type portrayed in commercials and in the media is virtually impossible to achieve naturally. We need to realize that all of those girls we see on TV are airbrush and edited; not real people. Instead, we need to create a body positive atmosphere where regardless of shape or size, each individual is beautiful, intelligent, and capable of doing whatever they wish in life. No one should be able to decide your worth just because of your weight.
