“You could be the king, but watch the queen conquer.” – Nicki Minaj from Kanye West’s “Monster”
Before starting… let me put out the disclaimer that in the clip below, Nicki Minaj echoes a lot of what many women in the hip-hop world have said before. Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah, Jill Scott and many others have preceded her in pushing for rights and respect, but I thought this clip was really interesting. Check it out.
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I like parts of this video. I dislike others. The part about Donald Trump and other men in power being the “boss” vs. women in power being the “bitch”. Other people have written at length about this. This is the part where I’m the most with her in this video. I think she makes great points about how men and women are treated differently and how traits that are perceived as inherently “masculine” — like something as simple as being assertive — carry negative connotations when women exhibit them. When a woman’s assertive, she’s a bitch. When a man’s assertive, he’s a boss. This is such a common double standard in our culture that it’s ridiculous. If you don’t believe me, ask Hillary Clinton.
But where I cringe in this video is at the very end where she discredits herself and everything that she has just said! She shows that she buys into what culture says about women because when women speak out against this kind of thing, they can often be characterized as stupid, petty, or otherwise weak.
What did you think of the video? Do you think she made a good point? Shoot me a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Cheers,
Eric
Eric Clapp 4.0 
I like how she talks about the tension of having to be ‘all these things at once’…I believe that is what some girls were taught as children, when our parents told us to be ‘ladies’…in other words, be sweet, strong, meek, flexible, look nice, act nice, be smart but not too smart, be pretty but don’t know it, be a Madonna, but be a whore. Thanks for the video, I always love some Nicki Minaj!
Thanks for the comment, Ali! It’s such a hard tension. It’s so bizarre that we live in a world where I, as a male, don’t have to worry about any of this. I can act however I want (within reason) and it’s valid. It saddens me how often I see this sentiment play out with Megan at various church functions. It’s a whole different world of expectation.
For what it’s worth, I’m reading “Unladylike: Resisting the Injustice of Inequality in the Church” by Pam Hogeweide over my time in New Orleans for the Youth Gathering. I’ll let you know how it is.