Unless you’ve been living completely off-the-grid for the last eight to ten years, then you’ll know this: Butts are in. Big, round, perky, bouncy booties. While a large backside has been celebrated in black and latina cultures for, well, ever, mainstream (aka extremely white-dominant) media, women were given increasingly impossible levels of thinness to achieve. Then one day in the early 2010s, this all changed. Some have called this an excellent, more “body positive” movement. Is it really though? Like many things, it’s nuanced, so let’s dive in.
We Like Big Butts And We Cannot Lie
Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot is at this point solidly in the throw-back, retro-themed party playlist. Released in 1992, for women outside of the black and latina communities, it certainly seems ahead of its time. After all, in 1992 magazine covers we saw the exact opposite of curvy women with well-endowed backsides. The desire for big butts only really went mainstream in the early 2010s with the release of songs like Anaconda by Niki Minaj, All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor, and of course Booty by Jennifer Lopez. Naturally, we can’t talk of the popularization of the booty trend without mention of the rise of Kim and the entire Kardashian Clan. (1)
Nowadays, edging ever closer to a full decade since those songs came out, big butts are everywhere. Gym classes, workout videos, and even entire gyms are dedicated to them. One of the most popular poses on Instagram is the “look back over-the-shoulder pose” while popping out the bum. This, of course, is usually taken at an angle to amplify the gluteal area. Finally, hardly any other industry has seen a massive bump in business than those in the area of booty enhancement. Whether you’re a company that makes butt-lifting, waist-cinching underwear, “butt lift” tights, or you’re in plastic surgery, the message is clear: Women want bigger butts. (2)
Body Positive or Negative?
At first glance, this may seem as a breath of fresh air for those who were exhausted by the horrible trend of the 90s and early 2000s causing women to make themselves smaller and smaller. Finally! A trend that celebrates the female form! But does it really? (3)
Yes, the big booty trend does lend itself much easier to the plus-sized, curvy, or full-figured woman (whichever term suits you), but I’d still put a full stop on calling it body positive. Let’s think about it for a minute:
- It still only promotes one body type (small waist, curvy hips and big booty)
- This doesn’t celebrate just a “big” booty, but a “perfect” one: Curves in the “right” places, lifted high, and perfectly round. If you can’t balance a champagne glass on it, it’s not good enough, right?
- It puts down another body type. Why must, in order to promote another body type, we put down all the rest.
- We are still sending the message to women that the majority of the value lies in one body part. For this current phase, that body part is the bum.
Essentially, it has left thinner or skinny women being told that they are suddenly not desirable because they don’t have the big, juicy booty that their curvier counterparts have. It also only helps one subsection of the curvy-girl community: Those with round, perky bums and small waists. What if you’re a bigger girl who wasn’t blessed with a bigger backside? Or you’ve got a big booty but not the tiny waist to go with it? What then?
Women’s Bodies Are Not Commodities For Others
The other big, blatant issue with this is that it puts all the value of women in just one part of their bodies. Not even the whole thing – literally just the part that we sit on. Second, in nearly every song, video, and movie that talks about the big ol’ booty, it is shown in the light of desirability for men. Often, they pit women against each other as well, saying that you are lesser than this other woman because her butt is bigger. Oh, and who are the judges of this appraisal? Usually men. Yeah, this is sounding less and less about empowerment and more and more like society is still trying to have women focusing on how horribly unattractive and imperfect they are, doesn’t it?
The Fitness Industry
From a fitness standpoint, this trend is both positive and negative. On one hand, it’s encouraging women to hit the gym and, most evidently, the weight room. Having strong glute muscles and working on the regular has plenty of benefits: