Bow down to Queen B. As you may have heard (and if you haven’t you live under some sort of rock), Beyonce has released a surprise album, breaking the internet and fulfilling the dreams of music listeners everywhere. I love Beyonce as much as the next person, but I have a bone to pick with the fabulous B at the moment.
The album starts off with a song entitled “Pretty Hurts”. Yay, girl power, right? Correct. The song explores the idea of perfection as a national disorder, and the struggles of trying to live up to the beauty standards that this country has created for women. Great, love it, in my pro-women mindset. Okay, a few songs later we get a song called “Partition”. Fun, dance-y, risqué—excellent. But as I started to listen to this song I began to think, where did Ms. Feminist Beyonce go? This song is all about catering to the man’s needs and desires, my favorite line being “I just want to be the girl you like” (that was sarcasm by the way). So… we are not supposed to have to live up to ridiculous standards and should be whoever we want to be, but, we are supposed to just be the woman than our man wants us to be? I’m confused.
As someone who struggles with her own body image I get so excited when strong, powerful, gorgeous women like Beyonce sing about not wanting to be held to absurd standards. But, then she turns around and says that she just wants to be the woman that (presumably) Jay-Z wants her to be. I just urge my fellow collegiettes to take a moment to think about this double standard that even women like Beyonce, who identify as feminist, tend to make. I don’t claim to offer a solution, but I also wish to proclaim that this is not it.