When mentioning the name of the female singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, model, friend, daughter, sister, wife and mother whose net worth is estimated to be a striking 450 million, you are bound to get a variety of responses.
Beyoncé Knowles, also known as Queen Bey, Yoncé, and Sasha Fierce, is known best as a soul/pop vocalist. What makes the thirty-four year old performer, by way of Houston, TX, different from other female artists of her genre? Her influence on young women.
The following are responses I received when I brought up Beyoncé to a variety of college women. To no surprise most of the educated women saw Yoncé as a role model. But the reasons for which her influence affects women changes from woman to woman—especially women of color.
“Beyoncé has been one of my role models since I was about 5 years old,” recalls Carla Hunter, 20, “I saw her in the Destiny’s Child “Bootylicious” video and I was hooked. She was so beautiful and exuded so much confidence. I knew that one day I wanted to be as comfortable in my own skin as she was.” Whether it be on stage performing, or in one of her many videos, Queen Bey demonstrates female empowerment—not only in reclaiming her sexuality but also in loving her own body. “Beyoncé is a woman unafraid to celebrate herself,” admires Lupita Carrasquillo, 20, “seeing a strong woman that shamelessly lives her life is an inspiration to women like me who face a constant pressure to be perfect.”
Beyoncé encourages her fans to embody confidence and to recognize their self-worth. “[She] instills that if you love you, you’ll always be alright. Love the skin you’re in. Being comfortable with you. So yes, Beyoncé liberates me. Not only as a woman, but a BLACK woman,” expressed Britni Austin, 20. But not everyone agrees that Sasha Fierce is the black women’s queen.
Kia McLean, 22, is one of many women of color who sees flaws with the self-termed “flawless” Beyoncé, she explained that “[she] has done little to take a stance on black women’s (and women of color’s) empowerment and embracing their natural features. Which to me, is a huge deal because women of color are held to European standards of beauty and are made to assimilate in order to feel desirable and accepted in society. Thus, I am not a huge fan of Beyoncé.” One cannot dispute that such feelings are not valid, Beyoncé’s body is realistically speaking aesthetically pleasing and the resources she has access to, are not available to all.
One thing that Beyoncé has spoken out about, extraordinarily, is feminism. As of late, in her more recent work she has motivated her fans to embody a feminist identity, featuring a snippet from a 2013 ted talk given by writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie called “We Should All Be Feminists,” in her most recent album, self-titled “Beyoncé,” and performing on stage with bright pink letters behind her spelling out F-E-M-I-N-S-T. This is a big step for the women’s movement, Beyoncé explains, “I have dreams and I feel like I have the power to truly make those dreams a reality,” and one of those dreams is empowering women.
“Sometimes I joke about my obsession with Beyoncé, but in all seriousness, I think her voice resonates with so many young women because the messages in her songs are constantly empowering. Recently, Beyoncé’s explicit and bold feminist messages have been helpful in making feminism mainstream and necessary,” explained Ana Garduno, 20.
Is Queen Bey the queen of all women? Maybe not. But as a college woman myself, I cannot deny that her ongoing accomplishments for the third wave feminist movement haven’t gone unnoticed.