“Some may say that I’m being a hater or that I’m jealous because I wasn’t blessed with a big bodacious booty.”

Scrolling through my Facebook page the other day I came across a friend request from a female that had an ass shot as her profile picture. My first thought was what the hell! I immediately deleted the request because I couldn’t figure out how she found me anyway. And why an ass shot? Was she really so obsessed with her own butt that she wanted it to be the first part of her that people saw? Clearly it was, but as I continued to scroll I realized that she wasn’t the only one that was proud of her butt. There were videos of women (and girls) twerking and pictures posted by guys that were worshiping the ample assets of randoms. Yes, I’ve known for some time that America was obsessed with the almighty ass, but all I want to know now is when will this obsession end?

Thinking back (and consulting with others) it seems that we have Jenny From The Block to thank for kicking it off. I can’t deny that she has a great body, but we all know the focus always falls to her booty. And she is just the first in a long string of big booty, ass shaking, twerking celebrities. It doesn’t even matter if the booty is home grown or created in a surgical room (kind of like Frankenstein) as long as it’s BIG! This big booty mentality has now spilled over from the celebrity world and has completely penetrated the minds of wanna be women that will never live a celebrities life.

Some may say that I’m being a hater or that I’m jealous because I wasn’t blessed with a big bodacious booty. Let me assure you that I’m neither a hater or jealous. I am, however, tired of seeing young girls and women minimize themselves down to one single body part. Women are the strongest, most intelligent, most giving, and most undervalued people in the world. The last thing I want to see is a woman allowing her value and level of self-esteem to be determined by how many likes she can get for showing her ass on social media. I don’t think that many woman (celebrities & otherwise) realize how powerful of an example they are setting for our young girls. They are telling our girls that it’s okay to display your body, its okay to use your body to get ahead in life and it’s not! We are more than our breasts, more than our butts, more than a tiny waistline. The sum total of our minds, bodies, and spirits are worth more than any amount of money the US Treasury could ever print. We are women and we are priceless!

I urge our girls (and adult sisters that have lost their way) to not be sucked in by the notion that all boys/men want girls with big butts and that are not ashamed to show their bodies. It’s not about being ashamed, it’s about having self-respect and knowing your worth. Your body is a temple and you should treat it as such. Would you destroy the beauty of an entire temple just to display one brick of it? Of course not, the temple is worth far more when its whole structure is protected and cared for.

So now you understand when I say that I’m all assed out. I’m tired of seeing so many beautiful girls/women reduce themselves down to a butt shot in hopes of getting attention from social media voyeurs that either forget about them as soon as they scroll to the next post, or try to contact them with intentions of causing harm. We’ve got to do better, sisters, and we’ve got to teach the young ones that they are more than an ass shot.

Stacey

Stacey Covington-Lee has authored five novels, all of which can be found @ www.amazon.com/author/staceycovingtonlee.

Follow Stacey on IG @ SCovingtonLee & Twitter @ CovingtonLee