I am enrolled in the class English 101, with professor Stefanie Torres. In this class we were given a prompt: Choose a character from American pop culture and analyze it to see what further information that character can tell us about the culture that produces it. For this, I chose Beyonce's song If I Were A Boy released in 2008 on her I am...Sasha Fierce album.
While listening to her song I was able to take a deeper look into her lyrics and study the messages they send to her fans about girls and the stereotypes that follow them in society today. If I Were A Boy, exemplifies the contradiction that many females face when analyzing male roles in society today by talking about their often desirable tendencies, such as their carefree, spontaneous, and easy lifestyles. Beyonce sings about how badly she would want to be a boy, and how one day would make that much of a difference. She believes that switching roles would help men see the differences that women go through in their everyday life. Beyonce sings how boys are portrayed as laid back, they often don’t care what they are wearing or what people think about their appearance. Girls tend to take more time when it comes to looking good. They have adapted the social norm from our society that when women leave the house they have to look perfect. When I took a step back, I began to realize the abundance of real world situations her lyrics relate to within todays pop culture.
Women are stuck in a constant battle between many conflicting standards: Be modest, but not too modest, because you’re not prude. Be strong, but not too strong. Entice your partner sensually, but don’t be promiscuous. There seems to be all of these rules regarding the way that women are supposed to act but nothing restraining men. I started to research a little more on this topic and found three other sources with the same messages as Beyonce's song. These sources include a recorded interview of children reacting to elementary questions about gender roles, toy store ads, and commercial ads in magazines.
While listening to her song I was able to take a deeper look into her lyrics and study the messages they send to her fans about girls and the stereotypes that follow them in society today. If I Were A Boy, exemplifies the contradiction that many females face when analyzing male roles in society today by talking about their often desirable tendencies, such as their carefree, spontaneous, and easy lifestyles. Beyonce sings about how badly she would want to be a boy, and how one day would make that much of a difference. She believes that switching roles would help men see the differences that women go through in their everyday life. Beyonce sings how boys are portrayed as laid back, they often don’t care what they are wearing or what people think about their appearance. Girls tend to take more time when it comes to looking good. They have adapted the social norm from our society that when women leave the house they have to look perfect. When I took a step back, I began to realize the abundance of real world situations her lyrics relate to within todays pop culture.
Women are stuck in a constant battle between many conflicting standards: Be modest, but not too modest, because you’re not prude. Be strong, but not too strong. Entice your partner sensually, but don’t be promiscuous. There seems to be all of these rules regarding the way that women are supposed to act but nothing restraining men. I started to research a little more on this topic and found three other sources with the same messages as Beyonce's song. These sources include a recorded interview of children reacting to elementary questions about gender roles, toy store ads, and commercial ads in magazines.