Apparently girls run the world now

So this is one of those things that has been on my mind for a long time now and it has pissed me off beyond belief. It's this new song from Beyonce called Run the World (Girls). For those who are unfamiliar with it, this is the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U


aside from the fact that artists now stopped trying to make actual songs and just let DJ's put a nice beat on some shitty lines, and let name recognition do the rest of the work (see also the Black Eyed Peas), there is something that just gets me really offended.

So as a man I guess we have a few advantages. Job opportunities go to men more often, they get paid more and this is, sadly, a fairly patriarchal society. Something that is not a good thing. And yeah, it is time for some change. So I applaud some female empowerment. But not like this. To get to why this song really pisses me off I want to go back to another few songs from this chick.

The first song that offended me was an asine ballad called 'If I were a Boy', where Beyonce tells us all the hardships of being a lady, while simultanously bragging how she wishes her life would be as cheerful and great as that of a guy. In the videoclip, her boyfriend announces that he is visiting his female platonic friend, and Beyonce throws a hissy fit. The boyfriend asks her, quite reasonably, why she is acting all jealous all of a sudden, and Beyonce looks into the camera, pitiful of her nonexistent predicament, and the song starts out; 'but you're just a boy, you can never know how I feel'..

What, men are incapable of unreasonable jealousy? Are you kidding me? Cities have burned for this type of crap! And even if men can't understand how the finer elements of the female's psyche are too complex for the men to understand, THAT is the best you could come up with? That doesn't particularly support your case! Then she continues to mope how, if she were a dude, she wouldn't have to deal with those crazy girl emotions, and could just 'put on whatever you want', and 'have a beer with the guys'. Something that's perfectly possible if you are a chick. Well, maybe not if you are Beyonce, because, yeah, when you are that beautiful it is can be sort of hard to just casually drink a beer without being stared at. But that's something Beyonce should be perfectly aware of. She worked hard for that.

In essence, the song was this four-minute complaint of how complicated a women's life can be, and that men are always so damn happy-go-lucky about shit. But that's not something men and women commonly disagree on. I think most men encourage chicks to be less torn about what to wear, how to behave, etc. But hey, the single was released on an album in wich she played some sort of alert ego that has been fucked over by men several times, so maybe her life was that complicated, that women were pushed into this sort of crap by society, with its ridiculously arbitrary beauty demands, and magazines such as Cosmo and Elle that feed themselves on the insecurity of chicks like Sasha Fierce. But then the complaining tone of the voice still makes it awful. Stop complaining about it, encourage chicks to do whatever the fuck they feel like! Let them be tom-boys, let them have a bunch of beers with dudes, why not?

Then came 'put a ring on it', a song that fucked the previous song in the ass by putting male and female stereotypes right back into place. Women want to get married and have a family, while men are afraid to commit because they are so happy-go-lucky and just want to fuck whatever they want. And sure, this problem exists. A lot. I guess more women are looking for stable relationships than men, and men do fuck around more. But marriage is a pretty huge commitment. And it is not really a great excuse to just end a relationship over.

And now this song. When I first heard a friend tell me about the song's premise, Beyonce singing about how girls run the world now, I actually was down with it. Hell yeah, shake break those chains of patriarchal oppression! Let's change the chain of command, and let women be the ones on top! After thousands upon thousands of years of mysoginistic oppression, let's have a riot up in this bitch and bring on something that not only is more equal, but let's compensate for said patriarchal oppression.

And then I heard the song. It is a club song. Nothing more, nothing less. But hey, I thought, maybe the video shows women of all sorts taking command, and doing all sorts of awesome female empowering stuff. Nope. It is a bunch of models in revealing outfits dancing at some desserted place. If the line would be 'Girls, we look pretty hot', absolutely nothing would be different, except now several girls are posting this song on their facebook page, not realisising what they are actually implying. Yeah, girls run the world, if they look like models. Pretty much exactly what women need to advance. An image that feeds the mysoginistic world were in, by objectifying women, and making it the most important component of them running the world.

And I know this song isn't meant for me. This song is for girls. It's an anthem for the club-going girl. And yeah,   the girl who likes to go clubbing sort of rules her world at that moment. Rather than standing in line for half an hour, the bouncer invites her and her friends in, while dudes are outside, wondering why they even go to a place that treats them like a third-rate customer, even though they do most of the drinking. Once in these girls don't have to buy drinks, they wait for some horny bastard to bring them something. Do you give something in return? Hell no, and you shouldn't. If he thinks he can just get sex because he's giving you a Mojito he's got another thing coming. Let that dude work for his time with you.

So yeah, for that short moment it feels like you rule the world, and you can all gleefully sing along to what is in any other way a song that is detrimental to female empowerment. Enjoy it while it lasts. I can already hear this song in the background when 18-year old girls get robbed of their dignity while some 40-year old pervert is shooting another one of those 'Girls Gone Wild' things. Sad right?

And what I am wondering is, am I the only one who is bothered by this? Did I completely miss the point of this song, or any of the Beyonce songs I've mentioned before? I would love to hear a female's perspective on this, or just another opinion, so all reactions are welcome!