Take a look at the media, and it appears that no one can handle Meghan Trainor’s success. Her peppy, popular and addicting hit “All About That Bass” has been No.1 on Billboard charts for the past five weeks. With success comes an onslaught of criticism for being anti-feminist and missing the positive body image message altogether. Meghan doesn’t deserve this. She never signed up to be your daughter’s role model.
I personally like “All About That Bass.” It hasn’t been overplayed enough for me to hate it yet. I also like to see successful women doing what they love to do. This is why it is particularly disheartening to hear criticisms of Meghan Trainor for not providing a perfect, all-encompassing body image message in her song.
I don’t know Meghan personally, but I would guess that this was not what she set out to do. Meghan Trainor is barely past being a teenager herself. She’s 20 years old, and this is her first big hit. I can only imagine that she wrote a song that exemplified her truth and included body acceptance. Good for her.
And now, just because Meghan is ridiculously successful, people have something to say about it. Criticisms are popping up out of the woodwork to slam her for her influence on young women — just because she wrote a somewhat positive song that rang true for her.
Meghan Trainor writes a body positive hit, but unless she covers every belief system in her lyrics, she’s not doing it right. Feminists have criticized her message for focusing on what men think of a woman’s body. The New York Postcriticizes Meghan Trainor for teaching young girls to flaunt their curves and have a casual attitude toward sex.
So not only is Meghan Trainor a bad feminist, but her body positive message teaches young girls not to respect and protect their newly sexual bodies, according to the New York Post. The Post goes on to imply that a body-and sex-positive message could lead young girls to send naked pictures and sext without a second thought.
Now Meghan Trainor can add sexting among teen girls to her ridiculous list of sins. Because she was audacious enough to sing about “all the right junk in all the right places,” she’s been attacked left and right for how young women may respond to her message.
I get that pop stars are influential, but parents have the most influence at home. Your teen daughter is probably listening to “All About That Bass” on the regular and may even look up to Meghan Trainor. But Meghan Trainor isn’t responsible for your daughter’s body image, you are.
Picking apart the flaws in Meghan’s hit song is a waste of time and misses the real point. If “All About That Bass” isn’t feminist enough, then teach your daughters and sons about feminism. If Meghan Trainor’s message is too sex-positive for your liking, it’s your job to talk to your teen about casual sexting.
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