Music video touts outdated images


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Sorry, Meghan Trainor, but it’s really not “all about that bass” — in fact, the problem many people have with the singer is not her curvy figure but the content of her music. The latest controversy surrounding Trainor centers on the new music video for “Dear Future Husband,” a track off her debut album, Title. The 1950s-inspired melody is admittedly catchy, but the mid-20th century influence goes beyond aesthetics. The song has come under fire over the past week for its reaffirmation of heteronormative gender roles and for its picture of marriage as a transaction.

Sexism in pop music is far from a new issue, but in the wake of the past year’s explosion of celebrity feminism, Trainor stands as a blatant opponent to gender equality in the media. After all, it was common in 2014 for reporters to ask celebrities whether or not they consider themselves feminists that Time included the word “feminist” on its list of words to be banned for the following year. And let’s not forget that the magazine received so much backlash for this inclusion that the editor wound up removing “feminist” from the list.

With gender equality in the limelight, the existence of a music video for “Dear Future Husband” seems unfathomable. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine that Meghan Trainor, who appears in the video as a demanding, hyper-sexualized housewife, exists in the same realm as Emma Watson or Beyoncé. Even the one seemingly feminist line in the entire song — “You got that 9 to 5/ But, baby, so do I/ So don’t be thinking I’ll be home and baking apple pies/ I never learned to cook/ But I can write a hook” — winds up eclipsed by contradictory lyrics and that particular video clip. XOJane points out that during this “fleeting lyrical moment of women’s lib,” we see Trainor “scrubbing a kitchen floor with no indication of irony.” The rest of the song and video is blatantly sexist, painting women as hysterics who are too demanding to enjoy sex but willing to barter their bodies for presents, compliments and their husbands’ total deference. Men are the brutish breadwinners, desperate to please their wives in exchange for carnal pleasure. In this way, Trainor’s grossly stereotyped vision of America echoes common misconceptions of feminism — the demanding woman withholding sex and subjecting the inferior male to her wrath.

Unfortunately, this nightmare vision of female empowerment is nothing unusual from Trainor.  On the surface, “Dear Future Husband” and “All About That Bass” seem to be catchy girl-power anthems, but Trainor is notorious for grossly misunderstanding female empowerment and body love. “All About That Bass” features a line calling out “skinny b-tches,” followed by the weak apology, “No, I’m just playing, I know you think you’re fat.” Somehow, elevating your own body image by putting down other women and making light of eating disorders doesn’t seem that acceptable to me. Plus, both “Dear Future Husband” and “All About That Bass” suggest that a woman’s value lies in her appeal to the opposite sex — not in her own self-acceptance. Bearing this in mind, it comes as no surprise that Trainor has explicitly rejected the label “feminist” in a 2014 interview featured in Billboard.

Maybe it seems silly to assign so much value to one pop singer’s career, but Trainor isn’t just your average celebrity. Her reputation for promoting body-positivity and her lyrical embrace of her own figure have pinned her as a role model for American youth. Mic writer Kate Beaudoin points out that Trainor’s latest hit “may be ‘just a pop song,’ but thousands of little girls will be singing ‘Dear Future Husband’ on the playground soon enough.” After all, the scariest part of “Dear Future Husband” lies in its power to undo feminist efforts by snaking its way into young, impressionable minds. Beaudoin goes on to state, “This song teaches kids that men are born to be husbands and women are born to be wives,” and that’s no way to accomplish gender equality.

Thankfully, there is hope. The sheer number of Twitter criticisms and articles published in response to this particular video is proof that culture has dramatically evolved from the 1950s. Sexism doesn’t sit with American society quite like it did in the past, and Trainor isn’t the only media figure with something to say about female empowerment. As long as there are those unafraid to protest, feminism is here to stay.

Jennifer Frazin is a sophomore majoring in English and theatre. Her column, “Not That Kind of Girl,” runs Wednesdays.