“Flawless” by Beyoncé Represents Feminism

Brooke Coupal

Professor Zimdars

Advanced Mass Communication

March 6, 2016

“Flawless” by Beyoncé Represents Feminism

            “Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes” (Beyoncé, 2013).  These are lyrics that can be heard in Beyoncé’s single “Flawless” produced in 2013 (Sehgal, 2015).  Beyoncé helps to bring the idea of feminism to main stream media through her music, especially within the song “Flawless.”

            The song “Flawless” came about before it was actually released as a single to her self-titled album, Beyoncé.  The original song’s title was a six-minute experimental song entitled “Bow Down/ I Been On.”  Beyoncé stated that she went into the studio feeling aggressive and angry with a chant in her head, and thinking “Imagine a person that hates you. Imagine a person that doesn’t believe in you.”  She wrote this song keeping in mind the struggles that she has gone through in the music industry.  The big struggle being her Star Search moment where she was in a small girl band that had lost a competition on the show against a boy band, as shown in the beginning and the end of the “Flawless” music video.  To her, “Flawless” was her victory lap to show that she had made it, and is still making it (Kornhaber, 2014). 

            Beyoncé struggled with how to articulate her ideas of feminism, but found a clip from a TED Talk that she added into her song “Flawless” as a call to action (Kornhaber, 2014).  This TED Talk was with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and really capitalized on the feminist meaning of the song (Scarano, 2013).  This TED Talk was entitled “We Should All Be Feminists.”  The excerpt taken from the talk is as follows:

We teach girls to shrink themselves
To make themselves smaller
We say to girls
"You can have ambition
But not too much
You should aim to be successful
But not too successful
Otherwise you will threaten the man"
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 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
Feminist: the person who believes in the social
Political, and economic equality of the sexes (TEDx Talks, 2013)

This shows the different ways that females are stereotyped in today’s society.  It shows how people believe that woman’s main purpose in life is to cater to the man, to never threaten him, and to provide him a family through marriage.  Adichie also went on to speak upon the idea that women compete against each other for the attention of men, instead of in constructive ways.  Women judge each other constantly whether it is on what they are wearing, or who they hooked up with the night before.  A case study done at Stanford University entitled “Grinding on the Dance Floor” spoke upon the idea of grinding and hooking up at college parties.  "Research on college sex presents evidence for a double standard in which sexually agentic women are judged more harshly than men" (Ronen, 2010, 358).  This double standard goes beyond college, in which women are seen as “sluts” for their sexual doings, while men are not judged as hard and are often praised for their sexual acts.  Adichie ends this excerpt by stating what feminism is all about: the idea that men and women deserve the same social, political, and economic equality (TEDx Talks, 2013).  This is something that women have been fighting for for many years now, and will continue to do so until this equality is gained. 

            Adichie really hones in on the traditional feminist aspect within the song, while Beyoncé helps to enhance the confidence in women. “By lifting verses from Adichie’s TED talk on gender equality and using it to inspire her own music, Beyoncé is bridging the gap between academic feminism and everyday feminism” (Little, 2014).  Adichie really talked about the stereotypes that women face every day as well as the inequalities, while Beyoncé emphasizes the confidence that women should exuberate every day.  As stated by a writer at Ms. magazine, founded by powerful feminists such as Gloria Steinem, Beyoncé is opening up the door to young women who would have never identified with the feminist movement (Little, 2014).  She is pushing feminism into the mainstream, forcing people to become familiar with the word and its meaning. 

             One of the major ways she pushed feminism to the public was during her 2014 Video Music Awards (VMA) performance.  During her performance, she sung “Flawless” with the word feminist illuminating behind her (Weidhase, 2014).  This is just one way that Beyoncé has helped to bring the idea of feminism to the masses, especially being influential to young women.  Some people feel that Beyoncé is not necessarily the right representation for the word feminism due to the way that she perceives herself.  During the VMA performance, she is seen wearing a tight leotard.  People assume this is for the male gaze, meaning the way that males, who are typically heterosexual, observe, assess, and judge women on their physical appearance.  Women are then sexualized for the positive attention of men.  Older feminists such as bell hooks feels that Beyoncé’s sexualized appearance and performances harm girls and is opposite to what feminism should be about.  Some feel that Beyoncé just uses the word feminism to help promote herself such as Annie Lennox.  People who react this way ignore the practical feminist work that Beyoncé puts forth (Weidhase, 2014).

Some feminists have found her to be a problematic representation of the feminist movement, critical of her overtly sexualized dance moves and skin-baring costumes. But doesn’t feminism embrace every woman’s right to live freely and authentically? Beyoncé is in control of her art and her image, and many of her songs center on the independence and empowerment of women. If our bodies are our own, why shouldn’t any of us be allowed to claim feminism and prance around the stage in a leotard? Feminism shouldn’t be a monolith. (Little, 2014)

Beyoncé helps to enhance the confidence of young women.  The way she dresses and performs does not dismiss her feminist views.  Instead they are enhanced as young girls can look up to her and think, she is curvy and confident, I can be confident with my body type too. 

            Beyoncé illuminates the idea of feminism.  She helps to bring this ideology to the main stream, and successfully does so as young women are starting to recognize and relate to this term.  Beyoncé showcases the confidence that there is to be had with being a female.  Within her songs like “Flawless” she discusses how women do not need to follow the stereotypes set before them.  They do not need to be housewives, hide their sexual beings, or compete with other women for the attention of men.  She brings upon the academic part of feminism by adding an excerpt from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk describing what feminism is all about.  Overall, Beyoncé brings the idea of feminism to mainstream media through her music, and especially through her song “Flawless.”

           

References

Beyoncé. (2013). ***Flawless (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). Google Play. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/music/preview/Trdbu4zh262kkbjxdb4hxzqm3iu?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics&u=0#

BeyonceVEVO. (2014). Beyoncé-***Flawless ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyuUWOnS9BY

Kornhaber, S. (2014). Beyoncé’s ‘Flawless’: The full story. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/the-full-story-of-beyonces-flawless/373480/

Little, A. (2014). Beyoncé at the VMAs: Feminist and flawless. Ms. magazine. Retrieved from http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/08/25/beyonce-at-the-vmas-feminist-and-flawless/

Ronen, S. (2010). Grinding on the dance floor: Gendered scripts and sexualized dancing at college parties. Gender & Society, 24(3), 355-377.

Scarano, R. (2013). Who is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Complex. Retrieved from http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/12/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-beyonce

Sehgal, P. (2015). How ‘Flawless’ became a feminist declaration. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/how-flawless-became-a-feminist-declaration.html?_r=0

TEDx Talks. (2013). We should all be feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | TEDxEuston. Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc&feature=youtu.be

Weidhase, N. (2014). ‘Beyoncé feminism’ and the contestation of the black feminist body. Taylor & Francis Online. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19392397.2015.1005389