Lizzo has recently taken the pop world by storm, with her song "Truth Hurts" climbing to number four on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and "Juice" entering the chart just weeks ago. She's known for exciting audiences with her amazing stage presence, her high energy, choreography, and flute solos. Millions are falling in love with not only her music but her body-positive messages as well. Lizzo puts self-love at the forefront of her career and can be seen wearing little to no clothing at her concerts as well as her Instagram.
Many, such as myself, find her unapologetic nudity empowering, but some self-proclaimed "feminists" argue that she is "objectifying herself" and "taking away from her music."
Here's why they're wrong.
Insecurity is a toxic thing to mess with, causing jealousy, hatred, and a judgemental attitude. When this is mixed with feminism, we end up with women hating on women who are different than them, the very thing feminism is aimed at preventing. A common misconception in feminism is that being traditionally feminine is "bad" or "feeding the system," leading to harsh criticisms of women who do. Not to mention racism and fatphobia are still huge problems in the feminist community.
When mixing all of this together we find a lot of hatred for Lizzo — a proud, fat woman of color who owns her body and femininity, and shows it off, too. Some people have to tendency to bash Lizzo for the way she dresses and acts, not realizing that if a thin white woman said the same thing or wore the same clothes, nobody would bat an eye. Sending hate to Lizzo about how she shouldn't wear certain clothing or show off how she looks is really just regurgitating a tired, fat-shaming ideology that only hurts the feminist movement.
Not to mention body positivity takes form in different ways for different people. Some people feel empowered by covering up, and others feel empowered by showing their skin. Real feminism is recognizing the validity of both of these. Some "feminists" claim that female nudity feeds into the "male gaze" or objectifies women, but that frame of mind only upholds the ancient idea that women's bodies are inherently sexual. Lizzo playing concerts and posting pictures nude or semi-nude shows women and girls that their bodies are not gross, sexual or anything to be ashamed of.
For these reasons, Lizzo says that her "mere existence is a form of activism, especially in the body-positive community" and she acknowledges the critiques that insecure women give her. She continues to show her skin on every platform despite the hate she receives. If you scroll through Lizzo's Instagram comments you'll see thousands of kind words, but thousands of hateful ones as well, yet she still keeps a strong and confident demeanor. That to me is extremely admirable and sends the message that the only opinion about yourself that matters is your own.
Truthfully, Lizzo is the feminist pop-star the world needs — not only does she promote self-love and body positivity, but she's also an ally to the LGBTQ community and frequently speaks up about injustice. Despite the criticism, she is unapologetically herself and is the perfect role model for girls of all ages.
