VULGAR DISPLAY OF POSITIVITY

VULGAR DISPLAY

OF POSITIVITY

BY VIRGINIA MAYER

THE FIRST THING THAT CAME TO mind when I heard Lizzo was: Talent. Then I saw her playing the flute and I understood she is a real artist. I had so much respect for her. At the beginning she was just an artist. A fat artist, for sure. But her shape was irrelevant to me. Then she started uploading these grotesque videos of herself twerking on social media and I disconnected. The woman has the right to do whatever she wants, and I have the right to find it obscene. My problem (and real argument against what she’s doing) initiated when she started calling her hunger for approval: “Body positivity”.

I am sick of seeing the vulgar display of her ass. I too am a fat woman. I too live in a world where fat women are not the major preference, but I had to learn the world doesn’t have to accept me. I have to accept myself. And, let me get this out of the way REAL QUICK: “Body positivity” is not begging for approval while

displaying your almost naked body publicly and in the most vulgar way. It’s disgusting and isn’t “female empowerment” either. It doesn’t matter whether you’re black, brown, yellow, white, or a mix of any color. Why do I or anyone else need to see their asses? What for? It doesn’t make a difference if it’s a massive ass with cellulite and stretch marks like Lizzo’s (or my own), a supposedly perfect ass like Ratajkowski’s, a disturbingly fake ass like Kim K. or Kylie’s, or a skinny ass like Miley’s. It’s all the same. It’s thirsty, cheap, tacky, unpleasant and unnecessary. It’s pathetic, because it’s obvious all they’re trying to do is remain “sexy” and relevant. The supposed “Body positivity” is just a way to justify the vulgarity.

Displaying your almost naked body with these hypersexual vibes isn’t feminism. It’s just this pseudo, contemporary “feminism” that doesn’t help any female but just gives penises material to jerk off to. It only perpetuates the notion that women are pieces of meat for masculine gratification. Cass Elliot didn’t need to get naked and twerk for the world to know she was talented. Neither did Aretha Franklin, Queen Latifah, Carnie Wilson, or Kathy Bates.

Lizzo is just desperately screaming for approval. “If I’m shining everybody gonna shine”*: Girl, every time I see your pathetic attempts, I lose light. Don’t fool yourself, body positivity is being able to blend in this world with whatever shape you have. I could stop eating frosting with a spoon and spending all my days sitting in a chair in front of my computer. I’ve chosen not to. I go to pool parties in Miami with my friends in the fashion world and their model friends with perfect butts, perfect boobs, impeccable skin and wasp-waists and -yes- for a minute there I wish I had a shape more like that one, but then I remind myself that I don’t do the effort, and that I have the body I’ve chosen. So, I take my clothes off and get in the pool wearing my perfectly comfortable bathing suit, I have fun and I love myself. If there’s someone staring with disgust, well, why the hell should I care If they’re not the ones paying for my student loans? I don’t need anyone’s approval. I only need my own approval and I have that.

“Spendin’ all your time tryna break a woman down”**: When all women think alike, they’re no longer women, they’re a herd of cattle. A woman like me, publicly expressing her thoughts about other women isn’t “breaking women down”. There’s a much larger issue here and I blame all these pathetic attention and approval-seeking women followed by millions and millions of people. Imagine the emptiness within, when that so-called happiness comes from receiving approval from strangers. But they have to please everyone. They have to. UGH.

“Realer shit is goin’ on, baby, take a look around”***: We destroyed the world, everywhere you look at is in chaos, the end feels too close and meanwhile these women keep feeding the vapid female stigma which mandates you have to be “sexy” for everyone to see. Interesting, because the sexiest I feel is when I’m completely naked and riding a man. It’s then that I feel like the last woman on earth. I know what I want, and I know how to get it. I approve my body and feel free. When did intimacy and sexuality become public? Why? Lizzo is just hurt by society and desperately trying to fit in. Girl, you didn’t have to make that effort, the effort was in your art: Your MUSIC. But then, just take a look at all the female entertainers, they’re all selling sex, selling “perfect”. Goddamn… now even Billie Eilish is exhibiting her tits. They’re all so pathetic and it’s so obvious. But society doesn’t see that. And when a woman like me complains, then she’s a “hater”. Bitch, I’m full of love. All this overweight is love. I’m no hater, I’m just painfully aware. And sometimes I wish I was just another piece of brainless meat among the herd.

I do believe in Lizzo’s “body positivity” when she stands in the red carpet wearing a spectacular gown; tight, loose, short, long, with her fat arms -like my own- for everyone to see. When she occupies her space withing the entertainment industry just like any other female with any other shape and color does, without hiding her fat body. And I believe in her “body positivity” when she’s on stage wearing a leotard and exposing her fat thighs and big belly -like my own. That -to me- is a spectacular and powerful black goddess. That is inspiring, that makes me love myself more, that really makes me shine. I don’t think it’s only skinny women who have the right to wear revealing clothes. If you don’t like the fat girl, don’t look at her. Simple. If Lizzo really believed in her so called “body positivity” message, she wouldn’t be crying in public because the internet calls her FAT.