About a month ago, one of my lovely colleagues blogged about Meghan Trainor, the songstress behind the summer smash “All About that Bass.” Like all good m.blogs, this one inspired a bit of an Internet spiral as I clicked through reviews, interviews, and eventually a snarky critique of the lyrics over on Feministing.com. (Swear to God, Marlo, this only took 15 minutes.) Penned by blogger Chloe Angyal, the Feministing review boils down to Angyal saying the song is “disappointing” because Trainor’s love of her curves hinges on the fact that they bring all the boys to the yard. My gut reaction: so f-ing what? She wants boys in her yard. Great. Better than a surplus of garden gnomes.
The write up really irked me in that it ruined a fun, light summer song by over analyzing the lyrics and adding a healthy dose of what a response post on The Frisky called “finger-wagging: Well, what men think shouldn’t matter!” As stated in the aforementioned response post, sometimes it does, and so what? It’s the over analytical, no-fun nonsense that gives the word “feminist” a bad name.
That said, I felt pretty proud of myself once I put the anger aside. There I was, a card carrying feminist who is totally able to digest fun pop culture without being a downer. Props, snaps and what have you to wonderful, discerning, me. Then Elite Daily happened.
Sent along as something “fun” to read by a friend, I at first read through Elite Daily’s list of the 26 “ultimate status symbols for girls” with a grain of salt. A lot of it was funny, the pictures were cute, and the list ends with a triumphant “Breaking the Glass Ceiling.” I should be good here, right? Wrong. While en route to breaking the glass ceiling, there were a few hyper-traditional milestones and social conventions we girls are supposed to attain/adhere to. And while I don’t have a problem with and certainly haven’t been immune to juice cleanses, skipping the bread basket, and stopping by Soul Cycle, it does bother me that a specific type of body is the implied result of these things. I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with “older finance boyfriends,” Harry Winston diamond rings, and nannies on their own, but it does bother me that they’re tagged as ways women can show that they’re better than everyone else (because that’s what a status symbol is, right?).
Ultimately, this is Elite Daily we’re talking about, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. Rather than rattling on about how boyfriends/bling/babies shouldn’t increase your social worth (or ever, ever be touted as the adult version of a Tiffany dog tag necklace), I’ll share what I consider to be best of the bunch.
Yes! This is definitely good. Start that career off right!
Killin’ it!
I already told you, I like spinning. Sue me.
Work hard
Play hard
Giving back. It’s a good thing!
Silly Elite Daily – these are the adult version of a Tiffany dog tag necklace.
Also good. We all wanna be @llewllewtoo. Ain’t no shame in that.
Duh – you got all that practice on Instagram.
Woo! I’ve never seen shattered glass look so much like confetti!
All images source EliteDaily.com
Posted by Erin K.
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