While diving into my usual music playlists, I recently had a moment of lyrical clarity that stopped me in my tracks. Within seemingly empowering songs about body positivity, a jarring phrase emerged: “skinny bitches.” These words weren’t coming from a place of male misogyny, but from the mouths of strong, confident female artists in songs meant to celebrate diverse body types. This contradiction is particularly evident when examining Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” and Nicki Minaj’s hit, “Anaconda.”
If the intention of “Anaconda” and “All About That Bass” was to champion positive body image, both tracks unfortunately miss the mark. Promoting self-love shouldn’t involve diminishing other body types. Shaming one physique to uplift another is a flawed approach, and both songs fall into this trap by using the term “skinny bitches.” Trainor subtly calls them out, while Minaj is more explicit, declaring, “F** you if you skinny bitches.” The core issue is clear: a woman shouldn’t have to denigrate another woman’s body shape to assert the desirability of her own. Trainor’s lyric, “Every inch of you is perfect/From the bottom to the top,” becomes questionable. Does this affirmation of perfection only apply to her* specific body type, excluding others in the process?
Consider the hypothetical flip side: what if these artists had praised thinness at the expense of curvier figures? Imagine lyrics suggesting that larger women were somehow less desirable. The backlash against such overt fat-shaming would be immediate and widespread, and rightfully so. Body shaming cannot operate as a one-way street. Women of any body type do not have the right to demean or criticize women of different shapes. Such behavior is inherently wrong and undermines the very message of inclusivity that these songs seem to attempt.
True respect for every woman’s body should be a fundamental principle. I do acknowledge and appreciate Trainor’s critique of Photoshop culture and the unrealistic beauty standards it perpetuates. This is a valid and important point. However, in both “Anaconda” and “All About That Bass,” this positive message gets overshadowed by the problematic and demeaning undertones directed at thinner women.
Furthermore, while seemingly celebrating curvier women, both Trainor and Minaj inadvertently reinforce a narrow ideal of what a “desirable” curvy body should be. The body type celebrated in these songs isn’t necessarily attainable for all larger women. Sir Mix-A-Lot’s lyrics in “Baby Got Back,” sampled in “Anaconda,” explicitly state a preference for “Little in the middle but she got much back.” Trainor’s lyrics echo this sentiment, suggesting men are only interested in women with “All the right junk in all the right places.” This creates a new, albeit curvier, body standard: the Kim Kardashian-esque figure. It implies that to be considered curvy and desirable, women must adhere to specific proportions, like a thin waist paired with pronounced curves. This limited definition negates any genuinely empowering message of body acceptance for all curvaceous women.
Despite being titled “Anaconda,” Nicki Minaj’s song ultimately becomes another iteration of music influenced by male sexual desire. It’s openly based on “Baby Got Back,” a song explicitly about male preferences. The most concerning aspect of these songs is their central focus on male lust and the objectification of women’s bodies. Sir Mix-A-Lot’s blunt line, “(His) anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns, hun,” is directly sampled in Minaj’s track. Minaj seems to accept this male-centric view, stating, “He don’t like ’em boney, he want something he can grab.” Is the goal to be desired solely because your body offers more to “grab”? This framing hardly feels empowering.
Regardless of size or gender, no one should be subjected to derogatory lyrics, no matter how catchy the music may be. We should expect more from musicians, particularly those who are role models for young girls seeking confidence and self-acceptance. It’s time to move beyond women criticizing other women’s bodies. Can we finally stop objectifying women based on size, any size, and embrace a truly inclusive vision of body positivity in music and beyond?
