Yet, she is doing all of those things, and so her focus is on navigating the mundane aspects of life as a complete complex person. Beyoncé is a hardworking career woman, a happily married spouse to a powerful partner, and a loving mother in a climate that tells her that she can be one of those things, maybe two, but certainly not all three. It is working inside and outside your community to achieve your goals, and still being able to connect with the people you love in ways that are good for all of you. There's a reason the narrative that appeals to Beyoncé and so many others is one that draws attention to the reality that being a feminist is more than toeing some imaginary line to please others. But then, no one expects any other feminist message to be unilaterally accepted, do they? Is it a message that will appeal to everyone? No. She's pro-woman without being anti-man, and she wants the world to know that you can be feminist on a personal level without sacrificing emotions, friendships or fun. It simply is a part of her as much as anything else in her life. This album makes it clear that her feminism isn't academic isn't about waves, or labels. It's clear that like a lot of black American women, the mainstream middle class white feminist narratives with which we are so familiar aren't necessarily compatible with Beyoncé's view of herself. In Flawless (a track that leaked as Bow Down over the summer), Beyoncé quotes from author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TedX talk ' We should all be feminists', adroitly addressing the idea that she is somehow anti-feminist for not fitting into the boxes others project onto her. Now it seems the writer's words have themselves inspired an uptempo feminist anthem from one of the biggest names in pop music.Her new album might as well be titled 'Having it all, the Beyonce way'. 'We say to girls, you should aim to be successful, but not too successful, otherwise you will threaten The Man.'Īdichie begins her talk by recalling a Nigerian childhood spent reading British and American literature which inspired her to write novels featuring African characters. Over the course of the 30-minute speech, the novelist argues that we do 'a great disservice' to boys in how we raise them, putting them in the 'hard cage' of masculinity and that we do 'a greater disservice' to girls. The pop diva quotes Adichie's definition of a feminist as 'a person who believes in the social, economic and political equality of the sexes'. But of course when the time is right we expect those girls to bring back the perfect man to be their husband. If we have sons, we don't mind knowing about our sons' girlfriends, but our daughters' boyfriends? God forbid. 'We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are. But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same?'Īnother section sampled on ***Flawless argues that girls are raised 'to see each other as competitors, not for jobs or accomplishments which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men'.īeyoncé has also used lines from a part of the speech where Adichie queries parents' attitudes towards young people's sexuality:

a source of joy and love and mutual support. 'I am expected to make my choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. 'Because I am a female, I am expected to aspire to marriage,' Adichie says.

Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Lagos earlier this year.

Beyonce flawless feminist