Ariel Levy’s book entitled Female Chauvinist Pigs views sex and gender roles in society from a unique perspective due to the fact that Levy discusses the role that women have in perpetuating stereotypes and sexism. Levy makes a very convincing argument stating that although women who take part in raunch culture claim to do so because it is liberating, it is actually perpetuating sexism in society and keeping men in the dominant role. She also argues that when women attempt to take part in male culture by “becoming one of the guys,” they are actually doing more harm than good because they simultaneously rejecting femininity. For this assignment I chose to compare two music videos, Beyonce’s music video for “If I Were a Boy” and Britney Spears’s music video for “Toxic.” I argue that both of these videos can fit into Levy’s argument that she makes in Female Chauvinist Pigs, but they do so in very different ways. Beyonce questions the gender roles that are in place in society by urging women to challenge their role in relationships by taking part in male culture while Britney Spears takes the raunch culture approach and attempts to appear as a sexually liberated woman.
Beyonce’s music video shows the role reversal of a man and a woman who are in a relationship and briefly gives the viewer insight into the expectations and gender roles that are assigned and expected of people in relationships in today’s society. Beyonce begins the video by listing words such as “intimacy,” “honesty,” and “commitment,” which are all thought of as common aspects of an enduring relationship. The video then shows the dichotomy of perceived gender roles in a relationship, however Beyonce plays the man and her boyfriend plays the woman. The lyrics of the song are all about how men who are in relationships are having a completely different experience than women are; men are in control, have power over women, and are able to “get away” with things that women are not able to. Beyonce switches the roles to accentuate this polarity between the gender roles and to bring attention to the fact that women are being treated differently. She serves as a role model in the video when she is “the man” by acting independent and standing up for herself, but as the video shows, at the end of the day regardless of how much women act like men they are still women. The role reversal in the video urges women to take a stand and to challenge the pre-existing role that they are supposed to play in a relationship.
One aspect of Levy’s argument in her book is that as soon as women agree to take part in this male culture they are embracing masculinity and are devaluing the behaviors that are traditionally associated with femininity. Although the video shows Beyonce urging women to become more “masculine” in a relationship and portrays her rejecting the idea of “femininity” in a relationship, I think in this case it is positive and that Levy would agree. I think that Levy would say that this video is empowering for young women to see because it does call for a change in the structure of society and urges woman to correct the fact that they sometimes do take a secondary role to men, especially in relationships. The music video and the lyrics of the song definitely bring up issues of the longing that some women may have for the power and control that men are inherently given in a relationship because society has always been that way. This made me immediately think of Levy’s argument about “being one of the guys” and why so many women strive to be the “honorary man.” By stepping into this male culture, women are able to gain back some of the dominance that is often lost in society and it allows them to feel as though they have some control. I think that although Levy might argue that videos like these may tempt women to fall into this trap of acting like men and leaving their womanhood behind, it can seen as a positive thing in this case because Beyonce is an artist who is known to still embrace her feminine side.
To contrast this music video, I also looked at Britney Spears’s video for her song “Toxic,” which I think relates extremely well to another aspect of Levy’s argument. To me, this video embodies the raunch culture that Levy is discussing. I think that Britney Spears attempts to portray herself as a sexually liberated female in the video, and this is the goal of raunch culture, however I am in agreement with Levy in the fact that this is doing more harm than good for our society. I do not think that Britney Spears rolling around on the ground essentially naked (minus a few sequins covering her breasts) is empowering, liberating, or helpful for women who are looking to achieve equality. I think that videos like these delegitimize the attempt to be seen as sexual in a positive way, which is how men are linked with sexuality, and I think that if anything it is perpetuating female objectification.
Some scenes in the music video show Britney Spears dressed as a superwoman who is in control and liberated from male domination, but then these scenes are undermined by her rolling around naked on the floor right after. I think that Levy would agree that this falls into the category of raunch culture and is seen as part of the movement to redefine sexuality by giving women more control over it, but like Levy I think that men who are watching this are not exactly getting this message. This is similar to the women that Levy interviews who pose in Playboy, and how they claim to feel empowered by posing naked, however as we discussed in class men are not doing the same; we do not see men possessing this urge to be in Playgirl because they want to feel empowered. The same is true for these music videos. Male artists are not required to roll around naked on the floor with sequins barely covering their genitals in order to be successful.
I think that these two music videos deal with two different aspects of Levy’s book, but they are both related because they can both have an impact on how women think and act in society. On one hand Britney Spears is taking the raunch culture approach and attempting to urge women to take hold of their sexuality and use it in a way that has never been used before, and on the other hand Beyonce is urging women to take part in this male culture by rejecting the role that is often ascribed to women in society. I think that Beyonce’s video is a more effective approach in attempting to redefine gender roles in society and will be more beneficial in causing women to change for the better. I am not suggesting that Beyonce is the new Betty Friedan or the new Ariel Levy, however I do think that it is important to realize that such a successful artist in the music business is able to rise to the top of the industry by taking a different approach to these issues other than raunch culture.
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