Lo and behold, what do I find a remixed version of Beyonces song from earlier this spring. On the album its titled Flawless but you might know it is as Bow Down, I Been On. Some feminists I know had their panties all in a wad when the first version came out, because Bey instructed some generally nameless bitches to bow down. (Here at CFC we reposted this great piece from Red Clay Scholar about Beys sonic ratchetness, which you should check out.)
Look, I dont generally get into debates about whether women can or should say bitch or Black people can say nigga. Because why? The bottom line is we do it anyway, and marginalized groups have the right to self-define. What I will say is that it took feminism to introduce me to real bitches (good and bad.)
Anyway, folks said that Beyonces choice to do something so demeaning killed her feminist street cred. But then folks been pulling Beys feminist card from the beginning. Let us not forget how much folk acted a fool after the Superbowl.
So the reason I fucks wit Bey so deeply is that she had something for that ass.
The remix. The remix with Chimamanda Adichie spitting a very clear and succinct definition of feminism for the masses. A person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Yup. For starters anyway. And that interlude came right after Bey said, bow down bitches.
Talk about Crunk Feminism percussive, a refusal to fit into particular boxes, a willingness to fuck with the grays.
So heres a few reasons that Im here for Beyonce, the Feminist.
1.) Shes a work in progress, as are we all. In 2010, she gave an interview saying she was a feminist in a way, because she valued her female friendships deeply. Earlier this year, she claimed she was a modern-day feminist. Now she is straight up embracing the term in her music and claiming her right to tell women to both bowdown and encouraging them to be self-confident from the moment they step out of bed
in the same damn song! I rock with that because her feminism is complicated, and ours is too. Tell the truth. If your bed and the folks you shared it with were an indicator of your politics, your card might get pulled, too. Moving on.
2.) Sometimes bitches do need to bowdown. Call that a hip hop generation feminist sensibility, but its true. Its just like when Papa Pope gave Fitz the read of the century last night in Scandal Boy, Im literally above your paygrade. Its like the swag I don when academic goons try to step to me even though they are clearly less qualified. Sometimes Ive been known to tell folk You havent read enough to step to me. Go back and come again. The world would be better if women would learn that we dont have to take everybodys shit. Not the white mans, not the Black mans, not the states, not the hating ass next-door neighbor, not your frenemys. Nobodys.
3.) Academic feminism aint the only kid on the block. Confession: the first time I identified as a feminist, I was in grad school. I was able to come to an informed conclusion after reading Beverly Guy-Sheftalls Words of Fire and Patricia Hill Collins Black Feminist Thought. But we need to stop acting like a radical feminist is the only kind of feminist to be. I mean look, Im radical and committed to a robust structural critique. But I appreciate the good few liberal feminists in Congress who show up and actually fight for reproductive rights that can be on the books! As Meek Mill says, theres levels to the shit. But newsflash everybody didnt go to college. So when women of color start waxing eloquent about how our grandmothers and mothers were the first feminists we knew and many of them would never use the term, I wonder then why we dont understand Beyonces homegrown brand of feminism one that honors female friendships, one that recognizes and calls out sexism and domination in her industry, one that celebrates the power of women. No, it aint well-articulated radical social justice feminism, but if you need a Ph.D. to be a feminist, then weve got bigger problems, folks. AND Ill take a feminist that knows how to treat her homegirls before one who can spit the finer points of a bell hooks to me all day erry-day.
4.) Im here for anybody that is checking for the f-word, since so many folk arent. (Except Republicans. Aint nobody here for that.) What we look like embracing Queen Latifah and Erykah Badu even though they patently reject the term, but shading and policing Bey who embraces it? If Bey is embracing this term, that is laudable. If shes figuring out her relationship to it, I embrace that. I will never let my politics be limited by folks identification with a label, but it is nice when folks are willing to take the risk that comes with the word. Especially when said folks are backing it up by living out feminism in the ways available to them performing with an all girl band, with visibly queer members, for instance.
5.) King Bey always brings her A-game and manages to have fun while doing it. I wish feminism could take some clues here. We dont always bring our A-game, since we spend a whole lot of time trying to figure whos in and whos out as if that is going to get us anywhere. Times out for the WOC feminist meangirls shit. Sometimes folks just be hating. Real talk. Cuz if you aint critiquing Katy Perry and Pink and alla dem for being pro-capitalist and in league with the establishment, then back up off Bey. Posthaste. (And yes, we can and should have a robust critique, and that in itself aint hating. But again, sometimes, folk are just being mean or contrary, and we need to be about building some shit, not tearing shit down. And sometimes folks need to go to therapy and heal from the shit the meangirls in your past did to you. Stop taking it out on Bey. She dont know you. Seriously.)
More to the point, sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. If laughing and dancing aint a part of this revolution were building, then you can keep it.
