Beyonce and the Evolution of Sexual Portrayal and Empowerment

Beyonce's surprise release of her self-titled visual album sparked an ongoing debate on the merits of neo-feminism, particularly the purposeful sexual depiction of a woman of color for mass consumption. Several second wave feminists, including black feminist scholar bell hooks have criticized Beyonce for conforming to traditional patriarchal views on the sexual identity of female superstars. However, third-wave feminism (or neo-feminism) praises Beyonce for her unapologetic ownership of her seemingly conflicting roles of dutiful wife, invested mother, and highly sexual being.

Beyonce started her career at age 15 as one third of the girl group Destiny's Child. She was managed by her father, Matthew Knowles until their professional split in 2011. A look at her album covers, singles, and videos from her near 15 year time period managed by her father portray Beyonce as a sexualized plaything, a mere puppet in the patriarchal music and consumer culture.

Beyonce's first album cover for  Dangerously in Love features her in a see-through top, playing up her sexuality. She was only 22 at the time, and not in control of her own brand. Because she was under the rule of male managers, this cover does not empower Beyonce as a sexual being, but as the object of male fantasy and the male gaze.

For example, the single Crazy in Love (featuring Jay-Z) from Beyonce's first solo album Dangerously in Love features lyrics that show Beyonce as nearly delusional under the spell of attraction to Jay-Z. Never once does Jay-Z refer to himself as "foolish" or "crazy," rather favoring a verse that continually references his greatness and desirability. He name checks Beyonce as another "chick you can't get next to" while she repeats over and over how she is "begging [Jay] not to go, dressing to impress [him], looking crazy in love." The music video further diminishes Beyonce as an object by having her dance suggestively on Jay while he raps his verse. The opening still focuses on Beyonce's body. This theme continues throughout Beyonce's music videos and album; she is merely a woman, and though she occasionally sings about independence, at the end of the day she will do anything for her man.

Crazy in Love

After her split with her father, Beyonce took a year off to explore her personal identity separate from her highly crafted public persona. Her album 4 was created with her as the manager and head of her production company. She had a hand in every aspect of the creative direction of the album, a privilege that had not been afforded to her for the first 15 years of her career. 4 focuses on much more on true female empowerment. She sings about girls running the world, feeling grateful that she ignored chauvinistic men in her romantic life, and her dedication to her husband. Although there is an undercurrent of sexual themes in some of the songs off of 4, there is no where near the same level of commodification of Beyonce's body in the lyrics or music videos (and what sexuality is explored was part of Beyonce's personal creative vision and direction). Rather, the singles from the album are much more upbeat and universally neutral in their intended audience. Several of the less popular songs from the album place heavy focus on Beyonce's ability to sing, and sing exceptionally well, something that had been missing from previous albums.

Beyonce is fully clothed in a majority of her Countdown music video, something that rarely happened in music videos preceding the 4 era. She also makes it clear that the song is about her husband and the mutual love they have for each other.

Unlike Crazy in Love, the Love on Top music video and song talks about Beyonce's husband making her a priority in his life. She is no longer "crazy" or "looking foolish" but instead is treated with incredible amounts of respect. She also used this song to announce her pregnancy with husband Jay-Z, showing her love of family and her ability to control what parts of her body and life the world should be allowed to know. 

In the Run the World music video, Beyonce sings about women and the power they have. Her background dancers are all female, and the lyrics promote motherhood, female college graduates, and successful business women.

On Beyonce's most recent album, she unabashedly declares her sexuality, but this time in a way that
places her as in control of her body and what she wants. With a detailed look at the tracklist for BEYONCE, only four of fourteen songs are actually about sex, and two of those songs are specifically about celebrating her and her husband's sex life. The remaining two sexually explicit songs are about female pleasure and empowerment in sexual relationships, something that is rarely ever sung about, much less from a monogamous, married mother. The rest of the songs on the album cover a variety of topics spanning from the negativity and pressure put on women to be beautiful, struggling to live up to societal expectations, the harsh reality of the world for women and poor families, being in love, feminism and reclaiming a sense of personal confidence, and the joys of motherhood. With over half of her songs not mentioning sex at all, it makes very little sense as to why Beyonce has received negative attention from feminists for being too explicit in her content. Perhaps a reason for the tirade of criticism comes from the fact that Beyonce has incorporated several different personas into her feminist identity; she sings about being sexually liberated, but only under the bond of marriage and fidelity, continues to maintain her status as one of the richest independent business women alive, but acknowledges her love for her husband and the complete joy and satisfaction being his wife gives her, and revels in motherhood while daring others to try and stop her enjoyment of sex and performing (Self 2). This duality of identity, of wanting to be a liberated independent woman while still enjoying more traditional roles of femininity goes closely hand-in-hand with third wave feminists and their argument that proclamations of sexuality, sex positivity, and the fluidity of gender norms are vital to the empowerment of modern women, especially those of color (Third).

In Flawless Beyonce sings about her power and status, while reassuring other women that they are all "Flawless". The beat is hard and heavy on harsh hooks and hip-hop sounds.

In the middle of Flawless, Beyonce samples a speech from Nigerian feminist Chimamanda Adichie, highlighting exactly what a feminist is and why feminism is important. At her performance at the MTV VMAs, Beyonce stood in front of a sign spelling out Feminist. Several criticized her, saying that the display was corny and too conventional.

After her VMA performance Beyonce called up her husband and daughter to the stage to help her accept her award. After just displaying her individuality, power, and sexuality on stage, she ended her performance with an ode to her daughter and cried when expressing thanks for her family and opportunity to perform. Many public displays of emotion from women are criticized or mocked to mark women as fragile, but several commented on how inspiring it was to see a married woman be able to excel both in her personal and professional life.

Beyonce has long toyed with displays of sexuality and female empowerment. However, these declarations have often been under the hand of controlling patriarchal figures, and the belief that women must conform to traditional expectations of beauty and femaleness. By gaining control over the creative direction of her albums, Beyonce has been able to continue exploring what it means to be a free women in ways that inspire, uplift, and challenge critics from those who believe her to be nothing more than a puppet of the industry. She believes in love, sex, motherhood, hard work, and equality, and promotes those values in her songs and music videos. Although she is a sexual person and is comfortable with displaying her sexuality, she does so in a very controlled and purposeful way. By being comfortable with all aspects of her female identity and having the power to control what she shares about herself, Beyonce has reached the status of feminist icon, and is following in the footsteps of other female artists who continually challenge the expectation placed on women to act and think a certain way.