Empowerment

       As the saying goes, imitation is the highest form of flattery. YouTube is full of videos that imitate others. There are videos that imitate other YouTube videos, there are videos that imitate music videos, there are videos that imitate movies and the list goes on.

       This video is an imitation, but also a remake of the music video for ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyonce. The women in this video got the opportunity to be on the Tyra Banks Show as she dedicated an entire show to dealing with YouTube sensations, and the ladies got the opportunity to explain why they made the videos and speak out against the negative comments they received.

       This video is trying to send a message of empowerment. The women in this video want to tell other women that it is ok to be larger because it is still beautiful. I think their message has been delivered as the video has received more than 5 million views.

       They wanted to stop larger women from being afraid to dance and be free. They want these women to love themselves and be proud of who they are and not what they look like.

       Tyra asked the women what the responses to their videos were like and whether or not they had received any negative feedback, and of course they had.

       They had comments such as “fat girls can’t dance”, “please stop and don’t make another video” and “ok that’s enough”. They received a lot of negative comments pertaining to their weight, which is horrible because the message they were trying to send is that women should not be ashamed of their body.

       The fact that YouTube is anonymous makes it easy for people to leave negative comments, as they know that there are really no consequences for their actions. I think that people need to be aware of the effect that their comments could have on someone. The negative comments can have serious psychological effects on people.

       Constant negative attention and comments can cause stress, self-image issues and can lead to serious depression. According to Dr. Ken Rigby people who experience put downs start to feel victimized and are less likely to relate to their peers. Also it can affect them all throughout the day at work and at home. It is something that weighs heavily on a person’s mind. If they are being putdown about any aspect of their lives it can often leak into and start affecting other aspects.

      However these women have decided not to let the negative comments bring them down or even affect them. They told Tyra that they simply remove the negative comments for their page and do not think about them. They focus on the positive comments and on getting their positive message out to their viewers. 

       After being on Tyra’s show the video’s views increased greatly and many of the comments became more positive and surrounded the fact that they were on the show, such as “I saw you on the Tyra show and just had to see the video…” The Tyra show gave these people a little touch of fame on TV, which made them stars within the YouTube network and also changed the negative comments into positive ones.