Flex Mami slams lack of body diversity on catwalks
Australian rapper Flex Mami denounces ‘lack of body diversity on catwalks’, claiming body positivity is about ‘aesthetics’ rather than challenging beauty standards
Australian rapper Flex Mami, during an interview with Stellar magazine this week.
Flex, real name Lillian Ahenkan, took aim at the current “body positivity movement,” saying it’s more about “aesthetics” than challenging beauty standards.
“I think we got so engrossed in the aesthetic of it and we didn’t really unpack how we felt about fatness or fat liberation, or really challenge our ideas about beauty,” she told the publication.
Flex claimed that fat liberation has become a “talk of platitudes,” and people refuse to “evolve” on their “journey” to question what body positivity actually means.
The artist then made the comparison with feminism.
Australian rapper Flex Mami (pictured) has criticized the lack of body diversity on catwalks, saying body positivity has become a matter of “aesthetics” rather than challenging beauty standards. pictured
“All these movements that are supposed to be journeys to something else, to a utopia, and then we just take them and use them as identifiers,” she said.
“Instead of ‘I’m someone who practices feminism for a better future,'” I’m just a feminist and living in this stagnant position where I’ve decided what my thoughts and morals are, and there’s no need to evolve them .’
Flex Mami is a DJ, influencer, podcaster and bestselling author of the book ‘The Success Experiment’.
In early 2021, she completed a brief stint as a Big Brother contestant, being voted off the show after only surviving two episodes.
She made headlines again in 2021 as the face of Sydney’s high-rent crunch when she was fined $650 with no room for a fridge.
Flex recounted her inspection nightmare in a video uploaded to TikTok, where she claimed the $650 property’s kitchen had no room for a refrigerator.
“So my lease is up and I’m looking for a place to live and I don’t have time T-minus to find it,” she said, filming from her car.
“I think we got so engrossed in the aesthetic of it and we didn’t really unpack how we felt about fatness or fat liberation, or really challenge our ideas about beauty,” she told the publication. pictured
Models backstage at Australian Fashion Week this year
“So I’ve been home inspection, after home inspection, after inspection.”
“I went to see an apartment that cost $650 a week,” she continued, adding, “Why do I walk into the apartment and see no room for a refrigerator?”
She pointed out the design flaw to the estate agent and asked what the previous tenants had done to make the layout possible.
“All these movements that are supposed to be journeys to something else, to a utopia, and then we just take them and use them as identifiers,” she added.
She claimed the real estate agent said the tenants “never mentioned” that they had trouble finding space for the refrigerator, and asked the real estate agent for her suggestions.
“She says, you know what could work really well?” Claimed Flex Mami.
“Put the refrigerator in the living room.”
She looked into the camera and laughed off the incident.
Read the full interview in Stellar this week