Regardless of race, sex, class, sexual orientation, or anything else that we have been told separates us from each other, all women have a understanding and experience that is inherently shared. When women who are strong and in places of power, musicians for example, set a course for themselves that uplifts and empowers other women along the way there will be a rise in our collective self-esteem. Female empowerment in today’s society, especially the media, is so important. We need to remind young women that anything is possible for them, that they are all so beautiful, and that they don’t need anyone else to rely on.
– Abby Reuscher, Future HC-H Contributor, Loyal Friend, Too Legit To Quit, Class of 2017er
But before we get to our main event, let’s find out just how a diva is a female version of a hustler, shall we?
A bombastic platinum beauty crooning the top designer jewelry brands of her era in an airy voice, hugged by a glaringly magenta gown (with matching gloves, no less), being hounded by men in tuxedos offering giant plastic red hearts. No, this isn’t a musical solo number for a Disney princess, or a tawdry Las Vegas performance, this is the iconic number from the 1953 film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” by none other than Ms. Marilyn Monroe. Now, while Marilyn was certainly a spearhead for certain accomplishments that are aligned to those hopes of the modern day feminist (such as posing for Playboy and embracing a voluptuous figure), the film’s musical hit, which was based on a Broadway production from the 1940s, had lyrics that were frozen in the time of sexist hand-drawn advertisements for home appliances and circle skirts. It is no surprise then, that the lyrics of the song performed by Monroe are full of traditional views of her time:
“There may come a time when a lass needs a lawyer, but diamonds are a girl’s best friend. There may be a time when a hard-boiled employer thinks you’re awful nice, but get that ice or else no dice. He’s your guy when stocks are high, but beware when they start to descend…”
Not like there is anything wrong with adoring the sparkling glint of a 14 carat diamond, but the song evidentially boasts and promotes misogynistic maxims: Women don’t belong in the work force. Women can be bought. Women should be with their husbands, who are preferably, rich and able to provide. Women only care about luxuries. Women can only befriend Tiffany and Harry Winston.
You get the point- and so did other women of the era apparently, for as little as fifteen years after “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” Aretha Franklin brought R-E-S-P-E-C-T into the mainstream music scene, and paved the red carpet for a diverse multitude of women to grab the mic and belt, rap, or whistle-note their truth:
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T/ Find out what it means to me” begins the famous song by Franklin, in which she boldly states with no respect one would “find out I’m gone” when “you come home.” Franklin lays the line in 1967 of female empowerment through independence in music, creating a diverse genre which blossoms today. Many songs written by female artists describe their own personal experiences emphasizing a female’s choice to be dependent and independent when she chooses. Franklin describes, “I’m about to give you all my money/And all I’m askin in return, honey/Is to give me my profits.” Here, Franklin chooses to be dependent on someone else, but expects her fair share in return. The theme of a woman’s right to choose dependence or independence continues with other female artists such as Beyoncé Knowles in her infamous “Who Run the World (Girls).” She sings about “You can’t hold me (you can’t hold me)/ I work my 9 to 5.” As with Franklin, Beyoncé sings about her choice to be a workingwoman, and not being dependent on another individual for income.
This theme of independence of the female in the female experience is carried into more modern tunes, such as Kelly Clarkson in “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” Clarkson discusses how she is “Doesn’t mean I am lonely when I am alone.” Clarkson simply states that she doesn’t need another person’s presence to depend on, but only herself. This type of female empowerment of independence is frequently touched upon by female artists in describing their own personal female experiences because of the traditional expectation that women need someone to depend on and are too weak to rely on themselves. A big thank-you to Aretha Franklin and all of the other female artists out there who are teaching and reassuring all of us females that we can do it on our own no matter what another person says! Because “who runs this world? Girls!” – Meg Kristof
In the same vein, more and more women are spitting game and exposing their phenomenal vocal ranges with lyrics that boast that independence is more than just independence from a man. In fact, women can be in relationships, but still be independent women (or, as Jay-Z puts it, “Ladies is pimps too”), for when women are empowered, they can do so with a relationship status too. The empowered woman is one that owns her body, analyses situations with sentiment and clarity, expresses her emotions in evocative and uncensored ways, promotes female fraternity, and takes the positives and negatives with the confidence and courage that she is in control. Of course, I could rattle on, as the female experience is vast, and intersects with and within so many regions, cultures, languages, fabrics, hairstyles, sexualities, families, friends.
But, the most important aspect of feminism and grrrl power within the music industry has been that while the empowered woman is aware that she can be liberated, and is, in some ways, liberated, she is acutely aware that her experience as a woman comes with its own sets of burdens. Remember those misogynistic maxims of the days of greasers, poodle skirts, and rosy vintage Kit-Kat Clocks? They still come across to women in the forms of unequal payment, interviews that focus more on the outfit and less on the work, gendered products with astounding price inflations, enforced beauty standards that are unattainable and oftentimes unhealthy for the majority of the public, fetishism, cat-calls… And the women in our music industry know more about this than any other women, as they are constantly being relegated through humiliation and belittlement from all corners of the expansive stratosphere of media outlets when they look, talk, act, or think in any way that is less than “perfect,” or that is threatening to our male-dominated world.
Perhaps this is why we girls need our GNO’s, our playlists to blast with the car windows rolled down, our sleepovers with heaps of karaoke and Sunset Blush Franzia, always going back to the tunes that make us feel like we are free through danceable dominatrix beats. Women have yet to attain the liberation and equality of the sexes that we long for, especially in developing nations, but Miley, Madonna, Missy, and Miranda motivate and inspire us through their catchy choruses to create the world we want to achieve for the women of today, and the women of the future.
And so, here you have more than a day’s worth of girl power to pump through your aux cords. Enjoy ladies, (and gents):