Beyonce

In class on Wednesday we talked about the sexual objectification of black women that has been a feature of Western culture dating back to the days of slavery. This manifests itself in many ways in popular culture, and I think an example of this that we're all aware of is that of Beyonce. Beyonce, a 16 time Grammy award winner, is famous for her overt expressions of sexuality and her body, especially in her music videos. A great example of this is the video for "Single Ladies." This widely viewed video (at last count it has over 84 million hits on YouTube) consists entirely of Beyonce dancing to the song with two backup dancers. View the video and you can see it for yourself (if you haven't already)

In the video, Beyonce and her dancers present themselves as sexual objects. They wear black leotards that show off their long legs, mullet-esque hairdos that accentuate their heads, and stiletto heels that call attention to their legs and further the idea that they are objects to be observed rather than people. Throughout the course of the video they also spank themselves several times, giving off the impression that they want men to treat them like the objects that they are presenting themselves as.

Don't get the impression that I don't like Beyonce or this video. On the contrary, I enjoy both very much. I just find it worthwhile to examine these kinds of things in an analytical context that we probably don't do every time we type in "single ladies beyonce" on YouTube.