Lainey sent me the Billboard article about Meghan Trainor because she likes to see me rage.
HEADLINE: “I don’t consider myself a feminist”
CONTEXTUAL QUOTE: "I don't consider myself a feminist, but I'm down for my first opportunity to say something to the world to be so meaningful. If you asked me, 'What do you want to say?' it would be, 'Love yourself more."
RELEVANT INFORMATION: “[Her parents] encouraged their then-18-year-old daughter to pass up college in favor of a freshly inked publishing deal with Nashville's Big Yellow Dog Music: "They told me, 'You can learn more with this job than you can in a classroom -- go for it!'" Trainor says”
NOOOOOOOPE.
NOOOOOOOPE.
You do not get to say all of those things in the same article. You can’t say “I’m not a feminist” and “I want girls to love themselves” and “I can learn more here than in a classroom” all at once, because while Meghan Trainor may not have noticed, there is in fact kind of a disconnect between those statements.
Wanting people to love themselves more? To get to meet/date/love “nicer guys” as per Trainor herself in the article? To be able to launch a music career – based, by the way, on the idea that she’s “no size 2” – are these ideas not synonymous with Feminism, n., the idea that men and women are equal?
Not to Meghan Trainor. PERHAPS BECAUSE SHE PASSED UP COLLEGE.
I’m not saying everyone has to pursue higher education. But. But. When you show such a fundamental misunderstanding of a fairly basic word, then perhaps, Ms. Trainor, you are in need of just a little extra time in a classroom. Perhaps you don’t know absolutely everything there is to know at 20.
It’s not just Trainor – she’s not even the first one this week. Feminist is not a dirty word. It means “equality of the sexes”. It’s for everyone. I promise!
But it’s still a real taboo, isn’t it? I have a friend who gets a lot of social media traction. She just does. Occupational Hazard/Fringe benefit. A recent tweet about fall got 44 retweets and another 40 faves. But a tweet about feminism yesterday – about how important it is that more celebs come out and say “yes, we are” – that didn’t do so well.
4 favourites. The “I don’t want to commit to this” of Twitter.
There’s something about the word that people still think is scary.
Perhaps because they’re learning about it from Meghan Trainor and Shailene Woodley (oh yes, you didn’t think I’d forgotten this, did you?) and not in school where you can learn that – shockingly – feminism is for everyone. I promise. Does it make it better that Emma Watson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt said so yesterday?
Tell your nieces. Tell your friend who still says ,“Yeah I’m not a feminist”. Tell everyone before I have to go on medication for my blood pressure. Please.
Click here to read the Meghan Trainor interview in Billboard.
