sexually positive
very rich
an entrepreneur
very cocky
attracted to women
is really good at something and be proud of it
there is no problem. He's more likely what we would call a "boss". However, when Nicki Minaj is all of those things, she becomes a "bitch".
Clearly our notions of gender prescribe women to be un-boss. We criticize women when they step into the category of men/masculinity and threatens its separation as a category distinct from that of women/femininity.
This track "Boss Ass Bitch" linked here is really fun - however if you are offended by explicit language then maybe you shouldn't click on it.
The verses just sound really vile and silly if I haven't taken feminist philosophy. Now it sounds subversive and empowering. It's funny too I can't stop laughing listening to it.
Here is a blog post that says everything that I need to say here: "Nicki takes patriarchal notions of femininity and womanhood, reclaims them, and makes them work for her. In doing so, she reverses the paradigm of female inferiority and submissiveness and creates a model of empowerment for those who look up to her."
To relate to the unbalanced marriage issue. Nicki Minaj clearly wears the pants in a relationship: she is a cold "rich bitch" and is proud of it.
When we realize that sex is about power unbalance between genders in our culture, Nicki clearly has that power like a "Jamaican" during sex with men. This may sound very unfeminine, but Nicki has the good humor to see that she would be considered a "bitch". She doesn't care a bit and uses the B word positively.
what do you think? How does Nicki Minaj fit or doesn't fit into a feminist discourse?
Before your post, I had not heard this song and was looking forward to it, but was unfortunately disappointed. To be fair, I’ve never been a Nicki fan and it is precisely for some of the reasons Gregory mentions in the beginning of the article you linked. To me, it sounds like Nicki and others like her are simply using “the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house.” I realize that it may be easier to do this, but it also means that it has less likelihood for successful change. This reclamation of bitch and of sex as empowering is used in too derogatory a way, which I think subverts the message that might otherwise be construed as empowering. Like Gregory states, her use of misogynist language is still problematic.
ReplyDeleteFurther, the lyrics suggest that we need sex to defy gender stereotypes (being a bitch when men are seen as boss), which just introduces another. For girls who are not yet old enough to be exposed to the feminist movement or understand its underpinnings, I believe Gregory’s points fall on deaf ears. I think about the little girls so obsessed with Nicki Menaji and other popular female celebrities like these (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9573kGBtuE) on Ellen. Some of these reasons are why I also find the situation of Beyonce as a feminist icon to be problematic.