Opinion: Obsession with butts detracts from women’s more important assets

Danielle Seamon
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 03:02:08 +0000
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Singer Meghan Trainor has spent 12 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart — including multiple weeks in the top spot — for her song ‘All About That Bass,’ in which she declares ‘I got that boom boom that all the boys chase.’ Credit: Courtesy of MCT

Singer Jennifer Lopez (left) and rapper Iggy Azalea teamed up in Lopez’s music video for her latest single ‘Booty.’ In the video, Lopez and Azalea are seen putting their posteriors upon each other as the record’s track repeats ‘Big, big booty / What you got a big booty.’ Credit: Courtesy of MCT

Rapper Nicki Minaj’s latest single — ‘Anaconda’ — samples Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 hit ‘Baby Got Back.’ Toward the end of the song, Minaj calls out, ‘I wanna see all the big fat a-- b------ in the motherf------ club, f--- you if you skinny b------.’ Credit: Courtesy of MCT

In the 2011 wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton (right), was noticed for her rear-end while sporting a white, floor-length dress as Kate’s maid of honor. Credit: Courtesy of MCT

Singer Miley Cyrus drew attention and controversy at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards when she prominently featured ‘twerking’ during her performance with singer Robin Thicke. Credit: Courtesy of MCT

In R&B singer Jason Derulo’s summer single featuring Snoop Dogg ‘Wiggle’ — which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, the chorus sings ‘You know what to do with that big fat butt / Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.’ Credit: Courtesy of MCT

On the 2014 edition of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, models Nina Agdal (left), Lily Aldridge and Chrissy Teigen are pictured with their back-ends facing the camera. Credit: Courtesy of MCT

Reality TV personality Kim Kardashian is known to have a famous butt. Credit: Courtesy of MCT

There are boob guys, and then there are butt guys.

That’s how a male friend of mine once decided to simplify the sex habits of the more testosterone-heavy side of the human species.

If pop culture — as a concept and entity — was classified as more inherently feminine or masculine based off my friend’s definition, it would be checking off the male box on the form.

Here’s why — in pop culture, there is boob time, and there is butt time.

As I write this in October 2014 — despite it being the month notorious for guys to sport their “Save the ta-tas” or “I love boobies” apparel and have it be somewhat acceptable as long as there is a pink ribbon somewhere — it is butt time, according to Mr. Pop Culture.

It’s not the male actors, athletes or singers making this declaration, though. It’s Meghan Trainor singing “Boys like a little more booty to hold at night” in her chart-topper “All About That Bass.” It’s Jennifer Lopez and Iggy Azalea rubbing their posteriors upon each other in J-Lo’s music video to “Booty.” It’s Nicki Minaj eloquently declaring at the end of her latest single “Anaconda”: “I wanna see all the big fat a– b—— in the motherf—— club, f— you if you skinny b——.”

So, although it is the masculine mindset (the evil “patriarchy”) laying the groundwork of objectifying women to two prominent body parts, as of right now — weirdly enough — it is actually the women who are sort of being a–holes about it (all puns intended).

It’s not an entirely new revelation that we, as women, are often prone to pitting ourselves against our own gender. On the playground, while the boys are settling fights physically, girls are concocting the best combination of five words to tear Sally-with-the-stupid-haircut down.

What’s a little twisted, though, is women fighting the man for equal rights and respect, then offing each other with every baby step that is made toward busting the glass ceiling. It’s as if for every stride the Romans made in defeating the Macedonian Army in 197 B.C., Titus threw a rock at one of his own men for good measure.

“Butt time” is the most recent example. Much progress has recently been made in the entertainment industry’s portrayal of females in “real” shapes and sizes. Fashion magazines and beauty campaigns have now recognized that being “bigger” is a natural female form and not always a choice or an output of bad health habits.

Now, for some reason, we — as women — have taken it upon ourselves to say which kind of bigger is better, as if we are able to control the predisposition of our own bodies. Little in the middle but got much back? Correct. Ample bosom? Wrong.

Equality and preference are not mutually exclusive, and before we ask for respect from men, we need to respect ourselves and each other.

The lifeblood of the field of accounting is in this equation: assets = liabilities + equity. Simply stated, the worth of any thriving entity is the combination of its responsibilities and what has been invested in it.

Ladies, it isn’t just our a—- that make us valuable assets.