Pop icon Ariana Grande blessed us with a feminist masterpiece titled, “God is a Woman.” The title alone challenged many gendered stereotypes and the lyrics are a wonderful dive into female sexuality. Grande created something equally empowering as it is catchy. She reverses the patriarchal norm of male domination over women with lyrics like, “I’m tellin’ you the way I like it, how I want it,” and “And boy, if you confess, you might get blessed // See if you deserve what comes next.” Here, Grande is expressing the power she has over this man and how she is the one in control; something rare in heterosexual relationships. For most of history men have had all the power. They were the ones who owned property, and that sometimes included women. Nowadays, in the states at least, you can’t own a person but that power dynamic is still a festering pandemic lingering in our society. Women are supposed to be a submissive, pretty face. They are supposed to look good to attract a man and then stay home to raise their children. This translates to the bedroom as well. The expectation for heterosexual sex is male pleasure and fantasy, women are merely the vessel to achieve it. This is where Grande steps in to challenge the sexist norm and flip the script. She sings about female domination and pleasure; about women being the controlling force in both the bedroom and in life. She sings about the power she, along with all other women, have to take their deserved, rivaling spot in the fight for gender equality.
As Ariana says, “You’ll believe God is a woman” by the end of an intimate act. In her song, “God is a Woman”, Ariana emphasizes women empowerment and raises awareness to a topic that is frowned upon in society- woman finding pleasure in sexual relations. Ariana encourages female empowerment through lines such as “And I can tell that you know I know how I want it” and “I’m tellin’ you the way I like it, how I want it”. In doing so, Ariana sheds light on the idea of women placing their needs and desires above men, this way the act of intimacy shifts from being man-dominated to woman-dominated. These lyrics emphasize the importance of women openly speaking about their sexual desires and reclaiming their bodily autonomy.
This idea of being confident in speaking about sexual desires relates to Foucault connections between knowledge and pleasure, and how sex is just not supposed to be a learning experience, but also an opportunity to teach us something about ourselves. There is an urge to know something from sex and pleasure, but there is still the paradox of the sex talk where sex is silenced, yet we still talk about it explicitly and incessantly. Ariana paves the way for women to skip the act of silence and feel confident in speaking about their needs in a sexual relation.
However, it is important to note there are limitations that exist in how gender plays a role in her song. Ariana references intimacy in a relationship between a male and female both in the song and the music video. For example she sings, “And he sees the universe when I’m the company.” With the usage of the pronoun, “he,” Ariana excludes homosexual relationships. Also, the exclusion of queer relationships does not address other women’s sexual experience, such as those who are transgender and lesbian.
Despite this, “God is a Woman” by Ariana Grande encourages female sexual liberation and celebrates female pleasure.
Image of Ava Max on a throne from the music video for her song “Kings and Queens”
The song “Kings and Queens” by Amanda Ava Koci, known better as Ava Max professionally, is a feminist song of empowerment. Max compares the positions of kings and queens and how they are differently perceived by society. She points out the inequalities and expectations of women compared to men. In addition, she sings that women are much more capable of things than men. Women can rule and lead others, control their emotions unlike many think as a result of stereotypes, and give birth. Women are strong and amazing and Max makes sure that this is known to the listener with her analogy containing royalty.
Dove Cameron singing “What A Girl Is” in the episode “Rate-A-Rooney.”
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.
“Like a Virgin” is a song recorded by the pop diva Madonna in her second studio album “Like a Virgin.” It was released in 1984 and is still recognized as one of her most iconic work in her music career. Unlike some of today’s influencing feminist songs, such as “Single Ladies” or “Anaconda”, “Like a Virgin” does not have a clear gender perspective or hyper-sexuality. In fact, the song was originally written by male composers Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, while Steinberg claimed that the lyrics come from his personal experience. The demo was sung by Kelly before the song was brought to Madonna’s attention.
This well explains why the lyrics do not contain gender pronouns or a specific focus on heterosexual relationships. Madonna sings:
I was beat, incomplete
I‘ve been had, I was sad and blue
But you made me feel
Shiny and new
Like a virgin, touched for the very first time…
When “you” is addressed, their gender identity is nearly erased. Therefore, the song could be performed to anyone. Even the narrator “I” is not necessarily a 26-year-old blonde white woman. The song exile most class, race, gender advantages that may happen, and only stresses on one privilege most people, regardless of their identities, can strive for: love.
In addition, the song has a clever play on the word “virgin.” Taking it out, the song looks like a normal dance-ballad with lyrics like:
Yeah your love thaw out
What was scary and cold
But when Madonna comes back to the central phrase “like a virgin” with her sweet, teenage-girl-like voice, (80s and 90s teenager, not Olivia Rodrigo-type teenager) a bold and liberated sexuality is attached to the song. As Madonna commented on it: “I liked the play on words; I thought they were clever. They’re so geeky, they’re cool.” Placing “like a virgin” with other cliché love expressions makes this song seem intriguing. The character is presumable NOT a virgin, they only feels like they becomes a virgin once again because a brand new love has entered the life. When a woman, especially a woman like Madonna with her ultra-femininity performs this song, the claim of it correlates well with women’s bodily autonomy and an effort to normalize speeches of sexuality. Here, Madonna claims that her emotional life is ultimately the same as her sex life, that she could determine for herself she could be a virgin if she feels like it and her body feels like it. Therefore, the sensation of “unfit”, as a racy (in 80s standards) term is used, in this song is one of the factors that inevitably makes “Like a Virgin” a proud feminist song. The idea of virginity is dismissed, and sex does not shame her. Furthermore, the song could represent anyone, thus encouraging anyone to feel “like a virgin” anytime they want.
Works Cited:
Madonna, “Like a Virgin.” Like a Virgin, Sire Records.
In “Don’t Hurt Yourself” by Beyoncé, she unleashes a flood of anger in response to her partner’s infidelity as well as the generational trauma of black women. Her song’s main message is that hurtful actions reflect the other person, and when you are hurt like this, do not hurt yourself and let go. Her lyrics demonstrate her power, independence, and dominance because she realizes her self-worth and is not letting the hatred she feels for herself rule her life. Her own hatred reflects the hatred black women have felt for themselves because of the social construction that whiteness is beautiful. However, Beyoncé embraces her natural hair and calls it a lion’s mane. Not only does the rock and roll vibe of this song demonstrate Beyoncé’s rage, but it acknowledges the history and legacy of black women as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Tine Turner have shaped rock and roll. In her visual album, she quotes Malcom X to highlight the violence, injustice, and mistreatment of black women throughout the centuries; however, Beyoncé shows how strong, beautiful, and resilient black women are by redeeming the black female body. Beyoncé’s focus on the experience of black women highlights intersectionality that is present in Audre Lorde’s There is No Hierarchy of Oppression. Lorde states that “one aspect of identity cannot profit from the oppression of any part of identity” (Lorde). Not only does Beyoncé target generational sexism, she also targets generational racism. Although this song contains black feminist ideas, it may not be the greatest representation of feminism. “Don’t Hurt Yourself” and many songs from the Lemonade album contain Beyoncé’s personal experiences, so it is not our place to use to song as a representation of feminism and it’s message may not extend to every listener. However, “Don’t Hurt Yourself” is a powerful and meaningful song.
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians is an alternative rock band that originated in the mid-1980s, broke up for a few years, and got back together in 1997. Since releasing their debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, the band has released four other albums, all highlighting the band’s eclectic personality and style that was not made as present in their first album and more popular songs.
One song on the album, “Little Miss S.,” chronicles the life of Edie Sedgwick, an actress/model who rose quickly to fame, but died young at 28 after overdosing on a mixture of barbiturates and alcohol. “In a blink of the public eye,” Sedgwick was seen as a feminine icon, dubbed as an “It Girl” at the time. She became known for multiple reasons, one of which being her popularization of the miniskirt, noted by the lyrics: “Little Miss S. in a mini dress” (Songfacts.com). She also became a muse for the artist Andy Warhol, who included her in many of his films but mainly helped her create a media presence for herself, specifically focusing on her avant-garde style. This outside judgment reflected on her private lifestyle, creating a misunderstanding between her public and private image. Her private life of “shooting up junk in the bathroom” and “swinging on the branch of a broken family tree” was drastically different from the role model facade she outwardly displayed.
In Luisa Capetillo’s A Nation of Women, she describes how women dedicate themselves entirely to their appearance, “squandering their intelligence in trying to become more beautiful” (Capetillo 8). She argues that in doing so, women are no longer themselves and are wasting time, money, and health by trying to live up to society’s expectations. She says that women should be “beautiful because of [their] strong constitution,” which is exactly what Sedgwick embraced (Capetillo 9). By living to create her own style in a way that was comfortable to her, she was admired by others, “living it up to die” rather than wasting away following the strict confines of daily life at the time.
The representation of Sedgwick in “Little Miss S., however, is a limited portrayal of femininity. While she is portrayed as a role model, changing the name of femininity in the 1960s, her story is ultimately influenced by pressures from society; forming relationships with famous men like Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan and coping by using copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, leading to her early death. Her social status as a celebrity allowed for her to be free in expressing herself in more controversial forms since that was the way she gained popularity. While she stood as a role model, her story is not representative of an entire generation of women, simply due to diversity in social classes, races, and sexualities.
American singer Beyoncé has long been a leading icon in the feminist movement. She is often found uplifting women in her emphasis of inner beauty and self-worth through the messages of her songs. The song ‘Flawless’ featuring Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is no different –perhaps even more direct– as Beyoncé sings about female independence and autonomy in a society that is historically patriarchal.
The first verse of the song is a response to the criticism Beyoncé has received from other artists about her being the leader of female artists, as well as the discourse about her hiatus from music in 2010:
I know when you were little girls
You dreamt of being in my world
Don’t forget it, don’t forget it
Respect that, bow down, bitches
I took some time to live my life
But don’t think I’m just his little wife
Don’t get it twisted, get it twisted
This my shit, bow down, bitches
Beyoncé pushes back against the social norm that women rely on their husband for happiness. Her opposition is similar to Betty Friedan’s stance on second-wave feminism in her book “The Feminist Mystique”. Friedan emphasized the regression of the feminist movement after World War II in which women were convinced that their ultimate goal was to find a husband and start a family. Friedan simply argues that the notion of the ‘perfect housewife’ should be challenged, stating “the time is at hand when the voices of the feminist mystique can no longer drown out the inner voice that is driving women on to become complete” (Friedan 282). Beyoncé’s lyrics support this as she claims her success and fame independent of her hip-hop star husband.
The critic of marriage as a social norm continues in the bridge, which is a snippet of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TedTalk “We Should All Be Feminist” as she embarks on the consequences of normalizing the importance of marriage:
Because I am female
I am expected to aspire to marriage
I am expected to make my life choices
Always keeping in mind that
Marriage is the most important
Now marriage can be a source of
Joy and love and mutual support
But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage
And we don’t teach boys the same?
We raise girls to see each other as competitors
Not for jobs or for accomplishments
Which I think can be a good thing
But for the attention of men
We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings
In the way that boys are
The overall message of the song is a call to action for women to express their independence and freedom from social and cultural norms that oppress them into gender roles. Through showing appreciation of all of her possessions and multiple identities, Beyoncé claims that her life as a successful business woman and a happily married woman is ‘Flawless’.
One limitation of this song is its lack of discourse about Beyoncé’s struggle with being a black feminist figure. This course has taught us that the feminist movement has often times left out the thoughts and concerns of the Black women throughout history. Some feminists, like bell hooks, would argue that the power and authority that is used in Beyoncé’s lyrics paradoxically promotes the image of white women being powerless, when in reality they are the ones controlling the feminist narrative. By addressing the issues of racism in the feminist movement, Beyoncé would’ve tackled the overall issues of intersectionality of sexism and racism that all Black women face.
Few artists are able to capture the strength, beauty, and struggle of being a Black woman in America as well as Jamila Woods does on her track “Blk Girl Soldier”. Woods, a Chicago-based singer/songwriter, released “Blk Girl Soldier” as the 9th track on her debut studio album HEAVN, a project with themes ranging from loss and police brutality to black womanhood and beauty. While HEAVN (2017) predates the emphatic resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following the 2020 murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, many of its themes are still, if not even more, applicable today than during HEAVN’s initial release. “Blk Girl Soldier” focuses specifically on the strength and beauty of being a Black woman while acknowledging the historical struggles they have faced in America.
In just the first forty-five seconds, Jamila Woods provides a basic framework for the understanding of her song. She sings,
“See she’s telepathic
Call it black girl magic
Yeah scares the government
Déjà vu of Tubman
We go missing by the hundreds
Ain’t nobody checking for us
Ain’t nobody checking for us
The camera loves us, Oscar doesn’t
Ain’t nobody checking for us
Ain’t nobody checking for us
They want us in the kitchens
Kill our sons with lynching’s
We get loud about it
Oh, now we’re the bitches” (Woods, lines 1-14)
With proud declarations of being “telepathic” and possessing a “black girl magic” that “scares the government”, it is clear that Woods celebrates being a Black woman. However, the depiction of conflict and struggle is not far behind, with Woods quickly identifying the hypocrisy and bigotry of larger society. In 10 swift lines, Woods touches on contemporary discrimination towards Black women in the entertainment industry (Woods, line 8) and historically racist views of Black women as servants (Woods, line 11), all while attacking the heartless and dismissive nature of a society where “Ain’t nobody checking for us” (Woods, lines 6-10).
With her focus on the experience and liberation of Black women, Jamila Woods is undoubtedly womanist. Looking back to Alice Walker’s original definition of womanist in In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens, Woods definitely fits the bill of a “feminist of color” with “courageous…willful behavior” who is “responsible”, “in charge”, and, most of all, “serious.” (Walker). In addition, I believe “Blk Girl Magic” is great representation of second-wave feminism, especially in regard to the ideas of bell hooks. In Black Women Shaping Feminist Theory, hooks writes “There is much evidence substantiating the reality that race and class identity create differences in quality of life, social status, and lifestyle that take precedence over the common experience women share” (hooks, 4). Woods echoes these beliefs by directly focusing the song on Black women as opposed to women in general, a more general idea that fails to address these significant “differences” that bell hooks mentions.
Finally, I’d like to address the role of “Blk Girl Magic” as a sort of “fight song” empowering Black women to persevere in the struggle against oppression. Beyond “scaring the government”, Jamila Woods also writes Black women as “freedom fighters” that don’t and won’t “give up” (Woods, lines 40-60). Woods namedrops multiple iconic civil rights activists like Rosa Parks and Sojourner Truth, as well as famous Black feminists such as Angela Davis and Audre Lorde, both of which we read in class as well. Overall, “Blk Girl Soldier” is a testament to the complex reality of Black women, especially in America. Jamila Woods touches on Black women’s strength, and beauty, and struggles, all while reminding us that “she don’t give up.”
Taylor Swift is notorious for her love and breakup songs, but in her song The Man, she identifies some key struggles that women deal with on a daily basis. Many of these struggles include not being respected or held to the same standards as men in workplaces. As her lyrics claim that if she was a man then, “they’d say I hustled/ Put in the work/ They wouldn’t shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve/ What I was wearing/ If I was rude/ Could all be separated from my good ideas and power moves?” Swift’s main point she is making is that women’s work and personalities/looks are not separated. They’re often criticized for their ideas based on their outward appearances and their ‘moods’. This reminds me of Peggy Mclntosh’s work “White Privilege and Male Privilege” because men have an advantage over women in the workforce whether they are aware of it or not. Similar to Jean Kilbourne’s Ted Talk on Killing us Softly where she goes into the sexualization of women and stereotypical thin women. Women are judged and criticized from a very young age and are treated differently if they don’t fit that stereotypical body.
Although she does claim, “if I was a man/I’d be the man”(4), which is slightly construed since the idea is not to compare or wish women were men it’s to fix the gap and inequalities that stand between us. These lyrics can be viewed a few ways though because she is trying to show how if she was a man she would be treated differently than she is as a woman. This song perfectly explains how women have to work harder to be in the same place as a man.
In Taylors music video for The Man, she literally plays the man.
MARINA, previously known as Marina and the Diamonds, is an Indie/electro pop musician who is no stranger to female empowerment in her music and on social media. She recently dropped a new album Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land which spreads the important message of ecofeminism and the downfalls of a capitalist society. The most popular song on the track is “Man’s World.” “Man’s World” is an anthem of feminist power and resilience. This song not only recalls specific historical moments where women have been oppressed and mistreated, but also indicates discrimination and violence that LGBTQ+ individuals have faced. She references the Salem Witch trials in the lyrics:
“Burnt me at the stake, you thought I was a witch Centuries ago, now you just call me a bitch”(MARINA, lines 5-6)
These lyrics are based on the incident where violence against women occurred due to society’s view of “abnormal” activity of girls and women during the Witch trials. Expectations of what a “women” should be and act like are still prevalent today and it causes those who don’t fall into those categories to be treated as outcast. It also points out how women used to be called “witches” to the more recent derogatory use of the word “bitch.” While also recalling the controversy regarding The Beverly Hills Hotel that Marilyn Monroe is linked to, MARINA’s lyrics state:
“Marilyn’s bungalow, it’s number seven In the pink palace where men made her legend Owned by a sheik who killed thousands of gay men I guess that’s why he bought the campest hotel in LA then”(MARINA, lines 12-15)
This references the controversial event where the recent stakeholder of the Beverly Hills Hotel passed a law in the South China Sea, where he made queer sex and adultery punishable by stoning. These violent anti-gay policies caused a boycott of the Beverly Hills Hotel by many celebrities.
“Man’s World” hints at a theme explored in Contesting Cultures, where Uma Narayan states, “Women’s inequality and mistreatment are, unfortunately, ubiquitous features of many “Western” and “non-Western” cultural contexts (Narayan 401).” In cultures all over the world, women are mistreated and oppressed against. Violence towards women is everywhere even though the specific situations differ. This brings the question of intersectionality into the mix. While “Man’s World” doesn’t cover the topic of intersectionality, it’s important to note that through class, gender, race, and sexuality, women can be more susceptible to different levels of violence in their day-to-day experiences. Lorber writes, “Within many social groups, however, men are advantaged over women. The more economic resources, such as education and job opportunities, are available to a group, the more they tend to be monopolized by men (Lorber 61).” This goes hand in hand with the line “So don’t punish me for not being a man”(MARINA, line 23). From birth, our assigned gender places expectations on the life we are supposed to live and unfairly places cis-gender men at the top of the social structure.
While “Man’s World” comes from more of a Westernized approach to feminism, it’s still a solid start to educating listeners about violence and oppressions towards women and LGBTQ+ indiviudals. “I don’t wanna live in a man’s world anymore” (MARINA line 9) illustrates the strength and resilience women have demonstrated for centuries.
Taylor Swift portrayed as a man in the music video.
Taylor Swift dominates the music industry in 2021, but it was not easy to get to the top when she was fighting misogyny for her whole career. In February of 2019, Swift released her hit song “The Man” confronting sexism in the music industry, and declaring that if she was a man, she’d be the man. Her lyrics compare her achievements and life as an artist to the same of a man, and how society interprets both very differently. Men are far more respected in the music industry, and women who make it to the same place as men are often portrayed as “lucky”. Some lyrics that struck me the most include these two:
“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can Wondering if I’d get there quicker If I was a man (Swift, lines 11-12)”
and similarly,
“They’d say I hustled Put in the work They wouldn’t shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve (Swift, lines 19-21)”
These ideas date back to the first wave of feminism. This reminded me of when our class read “Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions” from the Women’s Rights Convention held at Seneca Falls in July of 1848. This document argues that women are oppressed by the government and the patriarchal society of which they are a part. One quote that emphasizes the ideas that are present in Swift’s song is, “That woman is man’s equal—was intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized as such,” (Stanton 1). Women were first fighting for suffrage against the existing notion that they should not have careers outside of the household, but instead their only duty was to tend to the home and take care of children. This was a time of expanding the women’s role to the outside world and creating new opportunities. They were regarded as incapable and had to fight exponentially harder to just obtain a similar place in society among men. Unfortunately, I think that this is still a present idea that is attributed when women outrank men. It is almost seen as intrusive when a woman holds a lot of power, as if she is not welcomed to have such a high status. Society resorts to wondering how she got there or if she had connections, instead of recognizing her hard work and drive. Women in this position are also called bossy and bitchy, instead of being viewed a strong leader like men.
One limitation of how this song represents feminism is that Swift herself is a wealthy, white female who through hard work was able to make it to the top. I think this view is not inclusive with the intersectionality of different races, disabilities, etc. that other female artists have to face. Swift did not have these added obstacles to work past on her journey to success. Overall, this song, accompanied by its music video, is a way to expose the sexism within the music industry and how women need to work harder for the same results and recognition that men receive.
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 1815-1902. Address of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Delivered at Seneca Falls & Rochester, N.Y., July 19th & August 2d, 1848. New York :R.J. Johnston, 1870.
Swift, Taylor. “The Man.” Lover, Republic Records. accessed November 9, 2021.
Miley Cyrus [@mileycyrus]. Instagram, 4 June 2019, https://www.instagram.com/p/ByStizPJcO6/.
Miley Cyrus is no stranger to controversy. Her 2019 song “Mother’s Daughter”, its music video, and her partnership with Planned Parenthood continue this legacy of getting her fans -and critics- talking. In these mediums she advocates for choice and bodily autonomy, while simultaneously reclaiming misogynistic epithets and portraying diverse resistance against patriarchal control.
The song opens with Miley praising that she is a “freak” and that she is in control: “Oh my gosh, she got the power, oh look at her, she got the power”. Later describing herself as “nasty” (almost certainly a reference to Trump’s comments about Hillary Clinton), “evil”, and “a witch”, Miley affirms that she is defining her own power, employing language that typically is used to demonize women. In the chorus of the song, Miley attributes her fierceness to “something in the water or that [she’s her] mother’s daughter” (Cyrus).
Lizzo has recently risen to fame as one of the premier American pop stars, writing music with lyrics that are empowering and positive towards women. Her 2016 song, “Good as Hell,” is feminist and catchy.
Lizzo’s feminist lyrics relay a message that women are valuable in themselves and do not need validation from men to feel happy. This relates to first wave feminism arguments such as those from the Declaration of Sentiments, which states that “woman is man’s equal,” which means that women should occupy a place equal to men in society (Declaration of Sentiments 1). Lizzo’s message that “you know you a star you can touch the sky/ I know that it’s hard but you have to try” relates to this first wave perspective by emphasizing that self-worth comes from within, and men do not have the right to determine the worth of women.
In addition to containing the first wave feminist perspective that women are worth as much as men, the song also relates to second wave feminism. Betty Friedan’s argument in the Feminine Mystique claims that women have just as much of a right as men to work outside the home in professional roles (Friedan 278). This relates to Lizzo’s line advising her listener to “boss up and change your life.” This depiction of women as bosses normalizes women in the workplace, and emphasizes how women have a natural capacity to be leaders and have control, contrary to what the patriarchy dictates. Thus, Lizzo’s “Good as Hell” relates to second wave feminism by emphasizing women’s capacity for success in a professional setting.
One final way in which Lizzo’s “Good as Hell” relates to feminism outside of first wave and second wave perspectives is by centering women as its subject. By making women the default audience of the song, Lizzo goes against the patriarchal conception of maleness as the default state of being. This default state of maleness was pointed out by Luisa Capetillo (Capetillo 28). Lizzo rejects this patriarchal structure by making the subject of her song a woman, thus normalizing women as the default person.
Lizzo’s song is limited, however, in its conversation with transfeminism and intersectional feminism. Lizzo does not mention trans people, queer people, or people of different races in her songs. Therefore, her song does not relate to how feminism applies differently to women of color or members of the trans community.
Despite this limitation, Lizzo’s “Good as Hell” is an important song in its relation to feminisms. It mentions the first wave perspective that women are equal to men, and emphasizes the second wave idea that women belong in the workplace as much as men do. It also centers women, a feminist stance. However, it does not have much to do with queer, trans, or women of color feminisms, so it is fairly surface-level in its feminism. Overall, the song is catchy, positive, and pro-women, so it is definitely worth a listen!
Throughout her entire career, Taylor Swift has been ridiculed, mocked, and trivialized for writing breakup songs in which she publicly calls out her exes. In her 2019 song “The Man,” Swift gives one big “F*** you” to her haters, asking the very legitimate question if she were a man, would everyone be talking about her this way? Swift’s question is not rhetorical. She wants people to really think about this — to think about the double standards she continues to be imprisoned by, regardless of her success as an artist.
In this song, Swift does not go so far as to reject gender altogether, but she heavily critiques the stereotypes, limitations, and expectations that society places upon women in comparison to men. Her perspective mirrors that of scholars we studied in class, such as Lorber’s idea that “gender, like culture, is a human production that depends on everyone constantly ‘doing gender’” (Lorber 54).
Swift begins her song by criticizing double standards around sexual activity: If she were a man, “They’d say I played the field before I found someone to commit to/… Every conquest I had made would make me more of a boss to you” (Swift). This is in response to the accusations she has faced throughout her entire career about stringing men along only to dump them and write an album about it. She challenges rape culture, asking “When everyone believes ya/ What’s that like?” (Swift) This of course relates to conversations around bodily autonomy and how rape culture entirely strips women of that power. Swift herself was also very publicly involved in a sexual assault trial in 2017.
Continuing on, she makes comparisons between the very different public responses to male and female celebrities doing the exact same thing – another double standard. She sings, “If I was out flashing my dollars/ I’d be a bitch not a baller.” In her line “What I was wearing, if I was rude/ Could all be separated from my good ideas and power moves” is a nod to the level of scrutiny female celebrities face that male celebrities often do not (Swift).
In the chorus, Swift sings, “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can/ Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man” (Swift). The overall aim of the song is not only to finally call out the unfair criticism she has received as a female artist, but also more broadly to criticize the extra lengths women have to go to — literally running to catch up to men — in order to prove themselves and retain dignity and respect.
I applaud Swift for stating the obvious and using her platform to bring attention to these double standards, but I think it’s also important to acknowledge the limitations that this song shares with first wave feminism. As an incredibly successful and wealthy white woman with a huge platform, Swift does not exactly represent the everywoman. Nor does she acknowledge the additional barriers that women of color face in proving their worth not only as compared to men but to white women as well.
As bell hooks says of Betty Friedan, “She made her plight and the plight of white women like herself synonymous with a condition affecting all American women… she deflected attention away from her classism, her racism, her sexist attitudes towards the masses of American women” (hooks 2). Swift is primarily a musician not a social justice activist, nor does she claim to be the latter. We cannot blame her for wanting to share her experiences — and they are experiences many women can relate to — but it’s still important to acknowledge how her privilege shapes those experiences.
