Why I Will Never Respect Meghan Trainor

Dear Meghan,

You have manipulated thousands of adolescent teenagers into a twisted ideology of positive body image, and what’s worse is that I don’t think you even know you in are in the wrong. I do believe that you have a good, kind heart- I really do. However, I believe you are grossly misinformed and confused about your own image, and because of that, you should not be a symbol of positive self-image for women of any age.

Your fame is based off of your promotion of the idea that every female is beautiful in her own way- a belief that I have as well. The difference is that I don’t promote the idea that being curvy is necessarily better than being thin. You have degraded petite females to get further on your path to fame, and further skewed the concept of “positive body image.”

Any revenue you have collected from your song “All About That Bass” is dirty money, and you should be embarrassed as to how you “earned” that money.

At first listen, your song is about self-confidence and self-acceptance. Both of these concepts desperately need promotion in young America, as over 75% of women between the ages of 15 and 17 admit to participating in self-destructive behavior as a result of having low self-esteem.

Unfortunately, by the second listen of your song, it is clear you are going about body positivity the wrong way. You say “boys they like a little more booty to hold at night,” which tells your young and confused female listeners that a man’s acknowledgment is important, and the reason they should obtain a certain build. What’s worse is you shame petite frames, and many women have petite frames that they have acquired naturally or through a healthy lifestyle. When you refer to these women as “stick-figure, silicone Barbie doll[s],” you are belittling their lifestyle choices and their own self-image. As if “Barbie” isn’t degrading enough, you went on to call the same category of women “skinny bitches.” Body positivity is not exclusively available to curvy women, and whatever your definition of “bitch”- it is not exclusive to petite women.

Now I will not tell you that every petite woman in the world has obtained that weight naturally. Eating disorders are a serious issue in America, affecting 10 million women and 1 million men nationwide. Unfortunately, you have even managed to degrade those 11 million individuals by making light of their struggle in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. You told interviewers “you were never strong enough to have an eating disorder.” Here is where I would like to stop you, and explain what somehow you have not grasped: you are now glorifying eating disorders, while also shaming petite frames and promoting a curvy frame.

You are a walking contradiction, and I do not respect you or your ideologies.

I am sorry for the young women who will hear your misinformed and offensive view on self-acceptance, and I am sorry especially for the young curvy women who will now seek inappropriate affirmation and attention from their male peers. I am sorry for the young petite women who now believe they are not attractive. Lastly, I am sorry for the individuals that struggle with eating disorders, because society was just starting to grasp the seriousness of such illnesses, and you have now stopped that progression with your thoughtlessness.

You owe the young women in this nation an apology, and I am ashamed that you have become an icon for body positivity in America. You have done nothing but manipulate young minds to further your career.