Shirin David: For feminists, abs, legs, and butts are questionable

– Feminists say women should be thin

Rapper Shirin David has found success with “Bauch Beine Po.” This isn’t the only song out right now that sounds like a throwback.

Posted at 2:45 PM today

“Go to the gym, lose weight,” Shirin David sings in her latest summer hit “Belly Legs Po,” her aerobics outfit fitting her like a glove. So ladies, go to the gym and get fit. The most successful German rapper at the moment has recently topped the German singles chart.

In the era Body Positivity This “thin” call is exciting enough. But Shirin David is no ordinary rapper. But also an avowed feminist. Even some people can’t reconcile her multi-surgery look, her very blonde hair, her very full lips and her very long eyelashes.

Shirin David puts Thomas Gottschalk on stage

For example, Thomas Gottschalk. Shirin David had this in late November. The final “Wetten, asshole…?” After being invited, not knowing what to say better than “I wouldn’t consider you a feminist,” the 29-year-old asked, “Why not? Because I’m good-looking?” As a feminist, you can be smart, eloquent and beautiful at the same time. “One does not exclude the other.”

So women can emphasize everything, including their appearance. Shirin David considers this part of feminist self-empowerment. For this, she named it “Wetten, dass…?” Celebration and Gottschalk condemnation. Since the publication of “Belly Legs Po” at the end of July, the wind has changed.

“Belly, legs, buttocks” reduce women’s appearance

How can a feminist like her encourage women to lose weight in the gym, critics ask? If a woman is supposed to please others first, preferably by “looking pretty in a bikini,” as David raps, then where is her right to self-determination? The “supermegahot” body can do Pilates and thrusts. It’s worth it, the rapper assures. “If you’re a hot chick (yeah), they look (ugh).”

The song conveys exactly what they are trying to prevent: the objectification of women and the devaluation of their appearance. Many of Shirin David’s fans and online feminists agree: the “Belly Legs Butt” song simply doesn’t work. They can’t believe that the rapper isn’t taking her fitness songs seriously, as she promoted real “Belly Legs Butt” classes right after the song dropped.

More and more women are entering advantageous fields

The fitness industry is actually experiencing a boom: for example, the Swiss Fitness Association documented this last year The number of members increased by 13%. This trend applies not only to young women, but also to women in general. However, Movemi AG, the largest Swiss fitness chain with the Activ Fitness and Fitnesspark studios, notes that “more women than before are entering the field of strength”. Therefore, it is not only yoga that is popular, but also dumbbell training, thereby training the body, as Shirin David sings.

Does this mean that body positivity efforts have failed? Is the anorexia of the 1990s making a comeback? Not necessarily. “From our 2022 member survey, we know that ‘health’ motivations have become more important than ‘attractiveness’ motivations,” said fitness provider Movemi.

For many exercisers, health may be more important than good looks. Yet, in Shirin David’s summer hit “Belly, Legs, Po,” health isn’t worth rapping about; women apparently need to look attractive — so that others will be interested.

Megan Boney is looking for a rich man

And other passages of the song don’t sound like liberation at all. “Business lunches a little distance, rich women seeking even richer men,” Shilling David says in one verse. Yes, maybe it’s all ironic, as it is with Tiktoker Megan Boni, aka “Girl on the Couch.”

The song “Man in Finance,” which The New Yorker released before the start of the summer, was an unexpected hit. It was created from a 19-second clip and was at least as irritating as David’s “belly, legs, and butt.”

Boni, also a feminist, succinctly sums up what she wants as a woman: a tall man, preferably from the financial industry, with a financial cushion, and blue eyes – “I’m looking for a man in finance/trust fund/6’5/blue eyes.” In short: a good man who can take care of a woman.

Is all this just satire? Possibly. But what Megan Boni and Shirin David sing about is exactly what many feminists are currently worried about: with the rise of right-wing parties, traditional role models are experiencing a rise. Women are becoming dependent on economically powerful men while treating themselves as ornaments. Therefore, this satire is close enough to social trends to be worrying.

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