“All Hail Queen Bey?”
You can ask anybody the question, “Who run’s the world?” and they’ll probably yell out the catchy lyrics “GIRLS!” Beyonce has become one of the world’s influential woman and a powerful celebrity. Her BeyHive fans look up to her as a beautiful and supreme woman proving that women can successful, flawless, and powerful. Beyonce has even be labelled as a feminist icon and calls herself “the modernday feminist” (“All Hail Queen Bey”). You would think that all of Beyonce’s successes and accomplishments would give feminist reasons to cheer. However, many woman that believes in feminism accuses Beyonce of betraying the acts of a feminist icon.
Beyonce’s latest performance for the MTV Music Awards have gotten a lot of attention from feminist and cause social media to spin. FOX NEWS uploaded an article titled “Beyonce’s
Feminist VMA Message Prompts Some Eyerolls.” Throughout this article, there are social media comments such as tweets and Facebook statuses that expresses how a lot of women feel about her performance. “An excellent night for women not wearing pants” (Edwards,
FOXNEWS) and “Watching Beyonce slide down the stage with a big sign saying FEMINIST behind her just ended me. I am done. Goodbye.” (Edwards, FOXNEWS) are similar comments that were flooding the social media that night. From these updates, its quite obvious that not all women were impressed or pleased with Beyonce’s finale performance. It seems as though these women were indicating that Beyonce was encouraging that it is okay for women to be halfnaked and this is Beyonce’s way of making herself a symbol of being a powerful woman.
“The Hypocrisy of Feminist” by Brock Seng is an article published on Noiseporn.com.
This article goes in depth about how feminist have betrayed the idea of feminism but are
accusing feminist icons such as Beyonce or Lana Del Rey to be the betrayers. Seng quotes,
“Feminism is not about every women being the same. Feminism is about being free to yourself and to choose whatever kind of lifestyle you want to live, not how everyone else male or female expects you to live” (Seng). Nowhere in the definition of feminism does it say how a women should or be a feminist model. It should be about equality between the sexes. Therefore, other women criticizing other woman’s way of success is not an ideal way to practice feminism.
In order to continue the spread of feminism and women being powerful, they shouldn’t knock each other down. On the other hand, we can say that Beyonce is very blessed. Feminist cannot blame Beyonce for having a very appealing body whereas the clothes she wears compliments her frame. On top of that, Beyonce states, “Dancing makes me happy.” She should be able to embrace that and enjoy herself while performing. Nothing is wrong with a great dance that goes along with her beautiful voice. Feminist that are against Beyonce fail to realize that Beyonce’s wardrobe and dance moves are not the ways for being successful. Beyonce is great singer with a beautiful voice and has starred in several movies that have granted her success and making it to the top.
Many other feminist argues that Beyonce is more of a sex symbol rather than a feminist icon. It is said that Beyonce flaunts and gives the idea that women should be sexy. “Every feminist worst nightmare: dancing in a corset that appeals mostly to men” (“Most Powerful
Celebrity”). They are indicating the way Beyonce performs to catch the men’s eyes and the lyrics to her songs is much more to please a male audience than a woman audience. A woman is not really into seeing another woman half naked or singing about sexual relations she might have had with her spouse. Feminist believe that Beyonce should be dressed a certain way or present
herself in a certain manner that shows that she is performing for a women audience supporting the beliefs of feminism.
A race and media scholar at Boston’s Northeastern
