I had been trying to think of a song for the mixtape and suddenly this bop started playing in my head on repeat. I love Disney Channel shows but I know that Disney is highly problematic in its representation of women and marginalised people, so when Dove Cameron sang this bop back in 2015 I was very pleasantly surprised.

On the Disney Channel show “Liv & Maddie,” on the episode “Rate-A-Rooney,” a group of guys had been rating girls, giving them numbers on their appearances. Protagonist Dove Cameron sings “What A Girl Is” in response to their comments.

“On a scale from 1 to 10/I am perfect like I am/I don’t need your number”

This is Dove Cameron’s response to the rankings of the men. She expresses that she determines her beauty, that beauty is something internal and personal, not determined by others.

“And these stupid magazines/Want me to change my everything/They don’t even matter/They’re not taking my power”

Magazines nowadays feature and promote impossible beauty standards for women. Like Jean Kilbourne mentioned in her TED Talk “Killing Us Softly,” “the image of women in media is worse than ever” and puts unnecessary pressure on women to look thin and young. These lyrics convey that women’s diversity and uniqueness is their power and they shouldn’t try to conform to what magazines and the outside world deem ‘beautiful.’ These lyrics also reminded of a quote in Feminine Mystique: “When she stopped conforming to the conventional picture of femininity she finally began to enjoy being a woman” (Friedan 279) which is similar in mindset since Dove Cameron is singing about not conforming to the standards for femininity.

“I’ll show you what a girl is/’Cause all of me is perfect/Who cares about a dress size?/It’s all about what’s inside”

As Jen Baker said in her TED Talk “Complete and Total Body Love,” happiness is not a number on the scale or a size, it’s a state of mind where we say “I’m okay just the way I am.” This is exactly the message being passed on through the first few lines of the chorus.

While Disney has a long way to go regarding its diversity and inclusion in TV and films (with TV taking steps forward a tad faster than the films) this song of female empowerment and independence, even though it is sang by a white cishet actress, is certainly a step in the right direction.