Last year Beyonce rather reluctantly described herself as a
feminist in an interview with US Vogue, stating ‘The word can be very
extreme… but I guess I am a modern-day feminist’. In mainstream pop culture - a world where lady Gaga has said things like
“I'm not a feminist
- I, I hail men, I love men. I celebrate American male culture, and beer, and
bars and muscle cars....”, where Bjork
has mused that identifying as a feminist is to complain and isolate yourself,
and where Taylor Swift has stated that feminism is about ‘girls vs boys’ -
Beyonce’s luke-warm comment seemed like the pinnacle of self-awareness
regarding that misrepresented little word. One of the
greatest enemies to feminism is the word itself; it has been seen as a dirty
word, created by angry woman who want to, like, take over the world because men
are stoopid, or something. It makes people instantly defensive, because who
wants to be associated with such radicalism.
Anyway, I guess Beyonce realised that there is nothing
extreme about the strife for equality. During her VMA performance, watched by
over 12 million Americans, she stood, so proud, so strong, and just so
undeniably Beyonce-esque, in front of the blazing word ‘feminism’. Beyonce, in
one fell swoop, took the controversial word and gave it a sexy new makeover,
making it accessible to billions around the world, making it cool and okay.
Beyonce’s performance screamed: you can like men and be sexy and have a family
and wear a bra and shave your legs and STILL call yourself a feminist OMG.
Now, Beyonce is not the perfect feminist (if such a thing
exists). She’s been caught plenty of times writhing around on the floor dressed oh
so provocatively in a variety of leotards, she’s happily used the word
‘bitches’, and once casually mimed along to her husband rapping about domestic
violence (and the lyrics were not about where to find your local abuse
shelter). It’s for these and probably more reasons that she has been
criticised, accused of not being a real feminist, of being detrimental to its
cause. It’s not that I don’t believe these reasons are valid - I personally do
not think there is ever an excuse to glamorise or make light of domestic abuse
- however I disagree with the backlash against Beyonce for calling herself a
feminist, and the concept of ‘bad feminism’.
Feminism is inclusive. It is progressive. A discussion. It
should not be judgemental. We all arrive to our beliefs through different
paths, and Beyonce may have spent her youth performing and using her body to
make money, rather than huddling over a worn copy of The Female Eunuch and
volunteering with abused woman, but that’s okay. People’s personal feminism
will differ according to their life experiences, ethnicity, sexuality,
social-economic background, and gender. We need to be accepting of these
differences, and understanding that feminist choices can be based on factors
that not everybody shares. People who describe themselves as feminists may not
always behave as the perfect epitome of one, because that is a difficult thing to
do in a society which holds such subtle and engrained sexism. As a feminist, it
irks me when people think they get to decide who does and who doesn’t get to
call themselves a feminist. I imagine them all, sat on their high horse, and
judging people against their checklists. Feminism is not a rule book, and this
is not progressive.
Beyonce’s beliefs may have come about through greater
understanding, through having a daughter, and a genuine concern about gender
and inequality, or conversely it could just be based on clever PR; the beliefs
may be empty, and maybe she doesn’t give a shit about equality but rather the
amount of publicity she gains, but unless she actually says this, ultimately,
it does not matter. She has achieved what activists have taken years to achieve.
She may not be the best feminist role model we could wish for, but she has torn
down the walls which has made feminism inaccessible and unattractive to the
masses, and opened up a conversation about what it means to be a feminist in
2014, to people who may not have considered it before, and this is progress.
