In
a world where so many female artists distance themselves from the polarizing
notion of feminism (or misdefine it), these songstresses have some to embrace
the term. The ambiguities and debates that exist within feminist communities
about what makes someone a real/good/true feminist can make some people reject
the term.
Beyonce- Who runs the world? According to Beyonce’s perfect world; girls
do! This Amazonian powerhouse performer seems to be the embodiment of girl
power. From independent women soundtracks of the 90s to her girl empowerment
anthems of today. In her surprise 2013 album, Beyonce, the Queen took the world
by storm with her track ‘Flawless’. The song features Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie, writer of such books like Americanah and We All Should
Be Feminists.
"I've always considered myself a feminist, although I was always
afraid of that word because people put so much on it," Beyonce says.
"When honestly, it's very simple. It's just a person that believes in
equality for men and women. Men and women balance each other out, and we have
to get to a point where we are comfortable with appreciating each other."
Nicki Minaj- As an artist who was first known for
capitalizing on her sexuality and assets,
Nicki Minaj doesn’t seem like a likely candidate for a strong feminist
artist. How can a woman who so seemingly
sells her body to garner record sales understand the plight of being a woman in
a misogynistic world? However, being a female MC, Minaj knows exactly how hard
it is to be taken seriously in the male dominated genre. She knows just how
hard it can be to be taken seriously when you are an ultra-feminine MC (I mean,
she calls herself Barbie… what is more girly than that?) Besides he strong ability to dominate in the
male-powered genre, what really caught my attention was her stance on female
sexuality.
Now this
could be a blog post AAAALLL on its own, but I loved that the rapper said she
demands orgasms. "I demand that I climax. I think women should demand
that. I have a friend who's never had an orgasm in her life. In her life! That
hurts my heart. It's cuckoo to me. We always have orgasm interventions where
we, like, show her how to do stuff. We'll straddle each other, saying, 'You
gotta get on him like that and do it like this.' She says she's a pleaser. I'm
a pleaser, but it's fifty-fifty."
Her comment
shows the inequality that happens in the bedroom.
Lily Allen- With campy girl-power anthems like
“Hard out Here”, Lily Allen has
criticised the music industry for being "sneering" towards women.
"I know that I get talked to in label meetings and by executives like a
woman. It's demoralizing and sneering, and we [women] apparently don't have an
opinion. It's done in a way to make you feel ashamed, whether they know they're
doing it or not. There are women in the room, in those meetings, and no-one
says, 'Don't talk to her like that.' That's the only way I feel like it's going
to change, when people start saying, 'You can't fucking do that!'"
The singer said in a recent interview with Shortlist that she does
not think feminism should be an issue in 2014, stating that
"everyone is equal" in the modern world.
She still identifies as a feminist but she is surprised
gender equality has not yet been reached.
Lorde- For a
teenage girl, she sure understands how to be a bad ass woman. The 17-year-old
pop star has openly indentified herself
as a feminist “I’m speaking for a bunch of girls when I say that the idea that
feminism is completely natural and shouldn’t even be something that people find
mildly surprising, it’s just a part of being a girl...”
It's heartening to see a pop star ready to openly discuss
feminism and sex-positivity, and do it all with an unassuming air.
Taylor Swift- It is surprising to me that
T-Swifty’s stance on feminism was even debatable. The powerhouse is a great
example of a woman who knows her own strength, isn’t afraid of public opinion,
and doesn’t feel the need to self-objectify in her music videos. In a recent
interview with The Guardian the ‘Bad Blood’ singer discussed her recent awakening
on the social matter.
“As a
teenager, I didn’t understand that saying you’re a feminist is just saying that
you hope women and men will have equal rights and equal opportunities. What it
seemed to me, the way it was phrased in culture, society, was that you hate
men. And now, I think a lot of girls have had a feminist awakening because they
understand what the word means. For so long it’s been made to seem like
something where you’d picket against the opposite sex, whereas it’s not about
that at all. Becoming friends with Lena – without her preaching to me, but just
seeing why she believes what she believes, why she says what she says, why she
stands for what she stands for – has made me realize that I’ve been taking a feminist
stance without actually saying so.”
Swift has
previously skirted around labeling herself a feminist, but now we know that's
probably because she wasn't so clear on what it really means to be a feminist.
