Why would I want to be a boy?

Beyonce’s hit song If I Were A Boy seems like the pro-girl singing phenomenon has done it again, incorporating her own brand of feminism, as the Boston Globe suggests, “hot and strangely wholesome”.  The video embodies the stereotypical cheating boyfriend —- but get this! The twist on Beyonce’s music video is the swap in gender roles.  Unfortunately, the first time I watched this music video and I saw Beyonce cheating on her music video boyfriend, in the back of my mind I thought — “Something is off…”.  And this is the negative effect of modern media.  They have completely brainwashed our generation into thinking that it is the man who holds the upper-hand in any relationship; it is okay for him to cheat cause he would be marked a “player” whereas if a girl had done the same, she would be branded a “whore”.

One problem I had with this music video was the affirmation of gender roles in our society.  She claims that “if she were a boy” then lists all of the stereotypical things guys do.  Women should and are able to do these things as well, they’re just not considered “lady-like”.  I know the message Beyonce was trying to get out to the public meant well, but even in the most pro-female popular music video I can find today still struggles with assigning certain roles to men and women.  At the end of the day, viewers take home that girls are supposed to always be understanding to men’s misdemeanors and men are able to go off and “romp” around with coworkers and expect the women in their lives to accept these offenses as “just the way men are”.

What do you guys think?

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