There are only a few songs that no matter where you are, who you’re with or what mood you’re in, if it starts playing, you will break out dancing and singing along with every word. One is Fresh Prince theme, the second is…well, anything by Destiny’s Child really, and the last is no surprise– Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-lot.
It’s such a bonding moment with your friends when you all stop mid sentence, mid walking, mid shopping, etc. to join together in subtle harmonic verse “I… like… big… BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE” in public. Oh so subtle. But even though we all know every catchy lyrics, have we every stopped and thought about what the song is actually saying?
When you really think about it, you’re feelings on the song could be pulling you in two very polarized directions.
- It’s so great how Sir Mix-a-lot’s message is telling girls to ignore the impossible standards of beauty that media propogates.
- Great, another song demeaning women to be nothing more than objects for sex and only be judged by their bodies (just in a different way) which is setting another beauty standard that not everyone can live up to.
Well late night internet surfing led me to finding this picture posted on my favorite entertaining image site (imagefav.com) and I realized I just had to write a post about it. So here I am, about to either reinforce or destroy your views of this, our middle-school anthem.
Literally every one of those comments’ replaced lyrics was originally setting a comparison of women to sexual objects and these commenters opened my eyes to it! But I don’t frequently believe things that aren’t coming directly from the horse’s mouth, so I decided to do some research into the song lyrics myself. Let’s analyze a little of what I found:
“Deep in the jeans she’s wearing
I’m hooked and I can’t stop staring
Oh baby, I wanna get with you
And take your picture”
Okay, ew. You won’t stop staring at me and want to take pictures of me because I look good in my jeans? Start with that come-on and I am so calling the cops.
“You say you wanna get in my Benz?
Well, use me, use me
‘Cause you ain’t that average groupie”
I only want to use you for your car, but you don’t care because I have a great body. Yep, sounds about right.
“I’m tired of magazines
Sayin’ flat butts are the thing”
Well that’s good! Thanks Sir Mix-a-lot!
“Take the average black man and ask him that
She gotta pack much back”
…And ruined by a different impossible standard.
However! I then got to the bottom of the song, and became increasingly confused as to how I was supposed to feel about this song after all…
“So I’m lookin’ at rock videos
Knock-kneed bimbos walkin’ like hoes
You can have them bimbos
I’ll keep my women like Flo Jo”
Well Flo Jo was an Olympic winning runner with a very toned and impossibly great body, but she was a strong and independent woman worthy of being respected as a role-model, so I’ll take it over the “knock-kneed bimbos” any day!
“When it comes to females, Cosmo ain’t got nothin’
to do with my selection. 36-24-36? Ha ha, only if she’s 5’3″.”
Breaking down those impossible standards like a Sir! (haha, see what I did there?)
“So Cosmo says you’re fat
Well I ain’t down with that!”
Good. Because Cosmo doesn’t have the final say of what’s beautiful in this world. Thanks Sir Mix-a-lot.
Cue my confusion! The last stanza of Sir Mix-a-lot’s Baby Got Back is all-empowering and gives a message of being proud of the body you’re given. He completely shuts down the media stereotypes of beauty and tells the “beanpole dames in the magazines” that they “ain’t it.” And promotes the message to be happy with who you naturally are “cause silicone parts are made for toys.”
My answer then, to whether this song is demeaning or empowering, is that…it’s both! I know it’s frustrating, but honestly, it’s a rap song by a young, straight, and horny male, and just like all the others, it’s going to make women out to be objects. It sucks, yes, but at least in this objectification we’re told to be comfortable about the bodies we’re given and not held to the impossible standards of the media! I don’t know, maybe I’m caught in the middle because a part of me wants to keep rocking out to this song forever. Do you all have more polarized and definitive opinions? Please let me know!
ShoutOut! James Madison University 