Beyonce- Run the World (LIES)

It's a song. I get it. It's just a song. Continue Reading.

This video is not about Beyonce. It's not even really about this song. My point is NOT that she shouldn't have made this song because of X, Y, and Z.

My point IS: Oh, Look! X, Y, and Z exist and this song is a great tie-in to a discussion of feminism.

If you've watched some of my other videos, you would be able to sense the sarcastic tone. Relax.

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Follow me, if you'd like:
http://www.twitter.com/NineteenPercent

Beyonce- Run The World (Girls) Music Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U

Jessica Valenti, author of "Full Frontal Feminism"
http://www.feministing.com

Dr. Dre's Lively Commentary on The Lady Humans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYHL6AYAwQU

Virgin-Whore Dichotomy

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/35004.html

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/2010/05/19/rimah-fakih-beauty-pageants-and-the-virgin-whore-dichotomy/

Infantilization:

http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/infantilization-a-collection-of-images/

References:
http://www.scientificjournals.org/journals2009/articles/1420.pdf

http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims

Social Probelms: A Down To Earth Approach by James Henslin

Hey Beyonce

Guess what?

You're a liar. I'm calling you out.

Beyonce is selling you a bill of goods, and I'm here to tell you not to buy it.

Her new song is called "Girls Who Run the World"

I don't think it's right that she's out there promulgating historical inaccuracies

to impressionable young women, imparting the false belief that they run the world,

thereby lulling them into a false sense of achievement

and distracting them from doing the work it takes

to actually run the world.

Which, by the way, I don't think female world domination is the goal.

I think the endgame should be a socially egalitarian society.

Girls really run the world?

First of all, women are universally dominated

There is not a society known where women as a group

have decision making power over men as a group.

[singing] "Who'll run the world? Girls!"

A better question would be

[singing] "Name the only American minority group

that actually constitutes a majority of the population: GIRLS!"

50.7% of the U.S. population is female, but sociologists consider women a minority group

because of their position relative to men,

the dominant group.

There are things called "women's issues",

which are apparently are "special interests".

A problem that affects half of the population of your country

is not a "special interest", ok?

It's a big interest. It's a regular interest.

So Beyonce, you really want to try to convince me that girls run the world?

Is that why 90% of rape victims are female?

And similarly, 95% of domestic abuse victims are female.

According to that statistic, we're not even running our domeciles, let alone the globe.

You'd agree that something should be done about that, right?

So let me tell you,

in South Caroline in 2005, cockfighting became a felony.

That same year, there was a bill to make domestic violence a felony.

Didn't pass.

So apparently, if you let 2 chickens peck at each other for your entertainment

you're a felon.

But if you punch your wife in the teeth, not so much.

If women have such power and influence

then why are female fetuses in China and India selectively aborted?

And before ultrasound was widely available for sex detection

you just had to have the baby, and then if it was a girl, you just kill it.

So.

"Girl power!"

I wish I were making this up.

Let's examine some of the lyrics.

Indeed!

Go to work, and make your cheque,

but be aware that your cheque is gonna be significantly smaller than your male counterparts

because at all ages and at all education levels,

American women are paid only 78% of what a man is paid for doing the same work,

and that is a huge improvement from 1980 when it was only 60%.

I actually agree with you there Beyonce.

Men certainly do not "freak this" the way our culture demands that women do.

Men aren't objectified in the same way or to the same magnitude that women are,

if at all.

Female sexuality is for sale, it;s profitable.

And another thing,

anecdotally, every issue of Cosmopolotan Magazine is about freakin' it.

Women are sent messages like

"First, take off his pants"

But don't sleep with him cuz if you do then you're skanky.

What am I to do?

The message that the media sends women is, like,

"be really really sexy, but not too sexy".

It's a phenomenon known as the "virgin/whore dichotomy".

Go briefly read about it if you want to.

Link in ma pants.

So indeed Beyonce, women have a very unique and contradictory course to navigate

when it comes to freaking it in this country.

Yes. They will. And they do. Often.

I'd like to defer to a very famous doctor on this subject, Dr. Dre.

He says, and I quote:

"Bi*hes aint shit but h*'s and tricks"

There you have it.

Listen Mrs. Carter, you should know this 1st hand:

When your husband isn't busy with his money, cash or h*s,

he's still got 99 problems and a b**ch aint one.

Of the most popular rap songs in recent memory,

I am hard-pressed to think of one that doesn't have any reference to

women as some derogatory name.

Not to mention like workplace sexual harassment or cat-calling

and all other manner of disrespectful things.

Don't call me a b**ch.

It doesn't make me feel empowered.

We have this thing in our society whereby it's somehow OK to do and say sexist things

because somehow they're not sexist anymore since women have so much power.

And I think the media is partially to blame for this.

Yes, it's nice to see female doctors and lawyers on tv

and Geena Davis even played a female president

in that one show

that got canceled.

And yes, lady humans can work and vote and work outside the home

and all sorts of other things that weren't part of the status quo of past eras.

But a simple survey of reality will reveal that we don't run anything.

And pretending we do will get us nowhere.

I think not only is it not helpful,

it's actually harmful.

Like, these messages of girl power in art and music and movies and

all other sorts of media

are useless unless there's actual work being done behind them

A shift in values, policy changes, and changes in perception,

there just needs to be a huge shift,

and that's gonna take some time.

The sporadic campaigns of girl power aren't really gettin' the job done.

Remember the late 90's era of girl power circa Spice Girls?

A group of ladies that told us we could be sporty

or we could be scary

we could be posh

or we could dye our hair red like ginger

or we could be babies.

Awesome.

Cuz that's just what women need more of:

Women have made great strides towards equality,

but we're not there yet.

So it's a little premature to be making victory anthems.

If you're at all interested by anything I said in this video,

or realize that some of this stuff I talked about isn't really fair,

then you should look into it for yourself,

and if you want to do it the old fashioned way

I highly recommend this book.

It's called Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti,

an excellent, excellent book.

Or you could just go to our website,

which is called

which is dangerously close to the word "fisting"

and makes me feel, frankly, uncomfortable to say it.

And that concludes this video

bye everyone.

50 po...

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Thank you for that. OK.Thank you.