Women Are Powerful...According to Beyonce & Summer's Eve.

I have met many a Beyonce fan who called me a hater after I expressed my dislike for some of Beyonce's songs. First of all, I laugh at anyone who seriously uses the word "hater", so if you read this post and feel the need to defend Beyonce by using this word to describe me, then save it.

My issue with Beyonce's "woman power-ness" began with Irreplaceable. I will not lie and say that I didn't sing the song very loudly and out of tune, when it was released. I did. But in the back of my mind there was always something slightly annoying about the message of the song.

Since then, many of Beyonce's big hits, Single Ladies, Diva, and now Run The World (Girls) have irritated me in increasing amounts because of the messages in the songs. I think part of the problem might stem from the simple fact that these songs were all written by men to "empower" women.

If the best person to empower a woman (through song) is a man, doesn't that defeat the purpose of the empowerment? Mind you, I didn't discover that the aforementioned hit songs were all written by men until I decided to write this post. So it's not like I set out to dislike these songs based on their writers.

When I first heard Run The World (Girls) I thought to myself, what planet is Beyonce living on where "girls" run the world? I don't completely hate the song, it's just that the message behind it made me scratch my head in confusion.

Being that I am a normal person who is able to separate a musical ploy from reality, i.e. a song that tells me that my "persuasion" can build a nation when I know that women are still very much behind in society, I decided to just take the song for what it is--a path to great album sales.

BUT, that was not the case for many a female on Twitter and Facebook. In fact it seemed that many Single Ladies (and otherwise) took Beyonce's message to heart and began to believe that "girls" really run the world. This, of course, is complete BS (pardon my language). As I once tweeted, the problem with Beyonce's song is that nobody has told "men" that females run anything, so the point is moot.

However, I reached this realization (about the "mootness" of Beyonce's songs) back in May when I first heard Run The World (Girls). So, why am I writing this post now?

Well, I don't know how many of you live in the US and have seen the new Summer's Eve commercials on TV. For those of you who are not aware, Summer's Eve is a brand of feminine hygiene products. Recently, Summer's Eve unleashed a new advertising campaign aimed at "empowering" women. The TV commercial that is part of the campaign is called "Hail to the V". I have helpfully included the video of the TV commercial in question.



Don't worry if you haven't seen this yet. I myself would have missed these commercials if not for my propensity to watch re-runs of Bridezillas on WEtv. Is your eyebrow raised after watching this commercial? Mine was.

The questions I have, after experiencing these two methods of female empowerment, are thus: Are our vaginas really that powerful? Are women really as powerful as Beyonce suggests? Is the Summer's Eve commercial correct in its assumption that our power comes from having a vagina?

Think about it.

The Summer's Eve commercial cites women with great vaginas, like Cleopatra, but when was the last time that happened in real life? (Also, as a fan of The Tudors, I think Summer's Eve was remiss in not including Anne Boleyn in their little commercial)

Your vagina may convince a guy to take you to the movie theater to see "Friends With Benefits", or sway him into purchasing tampons from the store at the risk of hampering his manliness street cred, but in the end if a man doesn't want to do something important, you cannot change his mind. I really believe this. What you can do is learn to "maneuver" him into thinking something is his idea, but you will need your brain for that--not your vagina. Your intelligence is the most powerful tool you have.

I too enjoy smirking at the stereotype of men as sex-driven "fiends" who only think with their "instruments", but if this were really true wouldn't we really run the world?

Back to Beyonce. She is a great singer but, as far as I am concerned, her "empowerment" songs are misleading to the "girls" who take her music seriously. Believe me, these females do exist.

So, are we really powerful? I think if we all use our brains we can be. But it is really hard to convince every woman to do this.

On a less feminist introspective note, I shall be co-hosting Verastic Radio LIVE this Saturday at 11am EST. This weekend's topic is "Show Yourself...Unless You're Ugly Of Course". We'll be discussing anonymity on the internet. Clicking the link takes you to the show's page where you can listen to it live on Saturday. My co-host this Saturday is Foxy P (a hilarious Nigerian comedian with a "tout-ish" attitude and apparently a dislike for anonymous internet users, who knew?) so it should be interesting.

Finally, music I can't stop playing this week. Rihanna's latest single "Cheers (Drink To That)" which I love! Especially with the sample from Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You" (another song I love). Great song for a Friday, non?