There are many things in my life I thought I would never be able to do, such as, being admitted to USC, getting a hole in one or writing about Jennifer Lopez's butt, which I have always had a deep and unwavering respect. Jennifer Lopez is an icon in our society and her butt broke the mold for women everywhere and it's significance cannot be overlooked. This unexplainable phenomenon swept the world and changed women's views of beauty.
Frances Negron-Muntaners in depth analysis of the movie Selena (1997), shows how much pressure was put on Jennifer Lopez when it came time to taking on the role of beloved Mexican-American singer Selena Quintalla. From the very start Lopez's received criticism just based on her ethnicity. There was backlash from certain member of the public complaining that Selena was Latino and Jennifer Lopez didn't fit that Latino mold since she is Puerto Rican. However instead of trying to further segregate races, Lopez pointed out that Latino consists of Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican which as stated earlier Lopez is. Its also important to note that Selena is Mexican-AMERICAN not Mexican. Lopez is from the Bronx and in one of her songs refers to herself as "Jenny from the block."
However while the criticism of her ethnic qualifications died down, a bigger criticism occurred for Lopez which was the way in which her body compared to Selena's. Frances exposes the body struggle Selena suffered during her time as a singer. She was forced to try and fit the mold of a the iconic and unrealistic America image we celebrated in that time period. Which was essentially the barbie look, blonde hair, 3 inch waste and blue eyes. Selena being Mexican-American wasn't given these features and had a much more traditional Latino body. Upon reading about how she would have to resort to methods like using a corset to attempt to shrink her curvaceous body. Frances also reports that Selena even used surgery to lessen the size of her body, she had truly become victim to the body shaming that has occurred in our country for quite some time.
So when Jennifer Lopez arrived on the scene with all that junk in her trunk, she started a movement that would help women embrace their bodies rather than try and fit the Hollywood actress mold. The key moment came when asked about her butt on a talk show and she flaunted to the crowd stating it was real and not a prosthetic. While at the time this did not seemed like a big deal, but this sparked a new movement in which curvaceous women would not only be embraced but would also become the norm. Take a look at todays woman who feel empowered by Lopez's iconic derriere. While we still have issues with society trying to dictate feminine beauty, we are witnessing the rise of butts ( no pun intended). It seems like an effort to create the Jennifer Lopez behind, squats are at an all time and volleyball is the sport to play in order to get that J-LO gluteus maximus. We've also seen this curve craze reinforced by stars like Nikki Minaj who have brought the big behind to a new level.
In all seriousness what Jennifer Lopez did was very important, it truly sent a message to society that women come in all different shapes and sizes and we cannot try and have them emulate one specific type of woman as thats just insane. So on behalf of all of us Jennifer we salute you on the political work you did by exposing the world to your butt.
No comments:
Post a Comment