Feeling comfortable in your own skin and learning to love yourself and your body is something that doesn’t come easily to a lot of people – let alone to women fighting their way to the top of the competitive music industry…
However, recent years – even as slut-shaming and sexism stay rampant – have seen some improvement as far as body positivity is concerned, with many artists using their music to bring the topic to the forefront. From Alessia Cara’s empowering ‘Scars to Your Beautiful’ in 2015, to Lizzo who championed the subject in her song ‘My Skin.’
Fast forward to 2018, and you have Little Mix strip down to enforce the idea of self-love and acceptance of one’s own body in their latest single ‘Strip’.
They made an impact as the quartet posed nude, with their bodies scrawled with insults they’ve had hurled at them; “Ugly”, “Fat”, “Talentless” and “Insignificant.” You see this image and you are instantly forced to stop and think, why is a woman who bares her skin and shows off her body, scorned at so much? When a man doing the same is fangirled over and deemed “sexy”, “smouldering” and “drool-worthy.”
From facing sexism within the industry as a group, to Nelson’s experience of cyberbullying, to Thirlwall’s struggles with an eating disorder, to the scrutiny faced by Edwards for her love life and Pinnock’s feelings of being “invisible… The foursome, who won X Factor in 201, have had to face for years challenges that would break anyone down.
The point to note is that the band are definitely not the only ones to go through such gruelling times. And this isn’t a phenomenon isolated to the entertainment industry either. Ask any girl, who has ever been told to lose some weight or to cover up a little more, and they will be able to relate. That’s exactly why ‘Strip’ is such an important step forward for women in the music industry. If the positive, inspired fan responses to the snippet of their upcoming music video is anything to go by, it will be a step forward for womankind as a whole.
Little Mix and so many more inspirational artists are fighting against the shackles society unfairly imposes upon them, and they are telling you to be proud of yourself. Whatever your size, your shape, your colour, in times where people tag female empowerment as a “feminazi” propaganda, these empowering messages are definitely something to hold on to.
By Malvika Padin