While making history as the first “big black woman” to be on the cover of Vogue, Lizzo made sure to use her mark in history to talk about issues that matter – including womens rights and representation as well as body positivity. In the interview with Vogue, Lizzo made a statement about body positivity that stands out. The Grammy winner criticised the movement, saying that it has become appropriated in the media.
To elaborate, the 32-year-old shared why she thought the that the meaning of the ‘body positive movement’ has changed.
“Now, you look at the hashtag ‘body positive,’ and you see smaller-framed girls, curvier girls. Lotta white girls. And I feel no ways about that, because inclusivity is what my message is always about. I’m glad that this conversation is being included in the mainstream narrative.”
And while the issue does not necessarily lie in the fact that the movement has become more of an umbrella term for all forms of body related acceptance, Lizzo does find issue with the fact that the people for whom the movement was first started for are getting sidelined.
“What I don’t like is how the people that this term was created for are not benefiting from it. Girls with back fat, girls with bellies that hang, girls with thighs that aren’t separated, that overlap. Girls with stretch marks. You know, girls who are in the 18-plus club. They need to be benefiting from…the mainstream effect of body positivity now. But with everything that goes mainstream, it gets changed. It gets — you know, it gets made acceptable.”
As for her own journey through self acceptance, Lizzo has grown from wanting to merely be ‘body positive’ to changing to game. Instead of just accepting big bodies, she want’s people to understand that being big is normal too.
“I think it’s lazy for me to just say I’m body positive at this point. It’s easy. I would like to be body-normative. I want to normalize my body. And not just be like, ‘Ooh, look at this cool movement. Being fat is body positive.’ No, being fat is normal. I think now, I owe it to the people who started this to not just stop here. We have to make people uncomfortable again, so that we can continue to change. Change is always uncomfortable, right?”
As one of the most respected artists in the music industry, Lizzo’s influence is not something to undermine. She’s been a powerful advocate for self-love and acceptance since the very beginning of her rise to fame and it looks like she’s about to add more titles to her already impressive repertoire. Last week, it was revealed that the Housten rep. bagged a whopping 11 Billboard Music Award nominations, including Top New Artist, Top Female Artist, and Top Hot 100 Song (for “Truth Hurts”). If Lizzo were to win the title of ‘Top New Artist’, she would be adding the accolade of being the “first female to win in this category since Lorde in 2014”.