Fuck Yeah, Gender Studies! was set up to discuss gender, sexuality, body politics & related issues from the very personal to the universal & everything in between; to address those gender/sexuality issues that, though of great importance, get fewer column inches than they should. For more information, please use the links below.
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there’s nothing more oppressive
than a colored woman
dancing around in a cage
dressed in animal print clothing
da fuq nicki minaj
seriously
just gonna… leave this here.
Call me ignorant (seriously, if i am being here, do) but isn’t Nicki’s oeuvre generally about reclaiming stereotypes in an empowering, positive, fucking awesome way? I don’t know which video you’re talking about here, but it’s a theme i’ve noticed in her work—from her verse in Kanye’s Monster to Check It Out to Save Me… we see her return to the idea of being a “beast”, a “motherfucking monster”, a “fucking savage”.
And in these songs this motif (as i see it, anyway) is about (more commonly) empowerment—taking on the stereotype of monstrosity to confront/reject her critics and would-be oppressors—and/or about exploring the pernicious effects of those cultural and racial stereotypes. We see the first one in Monster, Check it Out, Roman’s Revenge and others. The second one appears most obviously in Save Me.
In Save Me i read her characterising herself in those monstrous terms, “I’m a bitch, I’m a monster; yes, i’m a beast” as a reflection of how, in her low moments, it’s easy to view herself through the larger negative social lens that denigrates women of colour—particularly assertive women—as savage, monstrous, sub-human, supernatural, etc..
Plus, I mean… why even assume that she’s totally ignorant of what she’s doing? Why assume that she’s being oppressive? She’s not a white chick in blackface. Give her some fucking credit.
