We might have entered The Twilight Zone. A recent rant by right-wing political commenter Rush Limbaugh might be partially valid. Furthermore, it was directed at our beloved Beyoncé.
I know. Just hear me out. Earlier this week, Limbaugh went on the air to slam Queen B’s latest sound clip, “Bow Down/I Been On,” (which are two snippets of different songs) as an assault on the feminist-empowerment credit she’s gained up until this point in her career, with Destiny’s Child anthems “Independent Women,” “Survivor,” and solo hits “Single Ladies,” among others. Now, Limbaugh says, she’s done a “180,” by recommending to her female listeners that they “bow down” to their husbands. Of course, Limbaugh shades the topic with his own formidable commentary, stating, “She now understands it’s worth it to bow down.” Sigh. But, as much as it pains me to say it, if you look past his misogynistic misjudgments, he might be hinting at something true. No, not that it’s worth it for women to bow down to their husbands, but that Beyoncé’s new song takes a turn away from the pro-woman powerhouse we want her to be, and that she’s proven to be in the past.
Yes, Limbaugh has taken her lyrics painfully out of context, and his reaction is a womanizing, extremist version of what’s actually going on. Beyoncé isn’t advising women to bow down to their husbands–in fact, she sings, “It took some time to live my life/but don’t think I’m just his little wife,” of course, in regards to husband Jay-Z. Still, as Limbaugh pointed out, her upcoming concerts are titled “The Mrs. Carter Tour,” and even if she’s not telling women to be subservient to their male counterparts, she is demanding, with the lines “I know when you were little girls/You dreamt of being in my world/Don’t forget it, don’t forget it/Respect that. Bow Down Bitches,” and the aggressively repeated refrain, “Bow down bitches,” that we bow down to her. It’s an unusual shift, since Beyoncé is most noted for encouraging women to band together, ŕ la “Run the World (Girls).”
At the end of the day, B is a smart, savvy businesswoman–we learned this in her HBO documentary, Life is But a Dream–and pop singers reinvent themselves consistently in order to remain relevant. Not to mention, her “respect me” message in the song is a hip-hop staple. Still, what we also learned in that documentary is that Beyoncé’s life has always been influenced by a dominant male figure, be it her previous manager father or hotshot husband. Jezebel wrote a review of the documentary, citing it for its “POPaganda” nature, and also considering the fact that Beyoncé has been consistently led through life by an older man (she started dating Jay when she was 19; he was 31). When she did touch on ‘girl power’ in the documentary, she said, “At the end of the day, it’s not about equal rights, it’s about how we think. We have to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves.” That may be true, but a fight for women empowerment probably should be about equal rights for women.
I might just be playing devil’s advocate here, but if Rush Limbaugh makes me second-think something, it’s worth looking into. It can be (strongly) argued that since Beyoncé is a performer, every move she makes doesn’t need to be scrutinized or slammed by the likes of a conservative talk show host. But if her questionable quest into turning her dedicated, independent-single-lady-run-the-world girls into her ‘bitches’ can be written off as a performance schtick, then unfortunately, that could call into question her empowered-female stance (which has taken her so far as to be considered a prominent role model for young girls by President Obama) as a well-crafted entertainment guise, too.
Listen to “Bow Down/I Been On” below, and see what you think about Beyoncé’s latest:
