By Wendy Davila
During this last decade, women of all color and sizes have risen together to reclaim their power - and men are mad about it. When women started to come out and tell their stories about rape and sexual harassment, men started to deny that those instances were even real. We started to gain more confidence and demand equal rights and we got the backlash of “you already have it, what more could you want”.
This year, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion released their single WAP which had everyone feeling themselves. I mean, I sometimes catch myself humming the tune while I’m doing my schoolwork. It’s a song with a great vibe and best of all, it normalizes a woman's sexuality.
Male rappers have been sexualizing and objectifying women for years and everyone praises them but the moment that a female rapper takes back the issue that is when the topic itself is deemed vulgar and demeaning. Rappers such as Eminem and Snoop Dogg have spent the last decade dedicating songs to calling women gold diggers and festishizes them in every way possible. Some of these songs have become viral and are tunes that we groove to when we are at a bar or club. Yet no one seems to question the intention of the topic until a woman brings it to the table. How dare women feel empowered over their sexuality and genitals? Not like we own our bodies and can make our own choices.
This is a song about women celebrating themselves and their power, there is nothing bad about holding pride for who you are. Men just can’t stand to see women standing tall and proud without attempting to tear them down. It’s the year 2020 and it’s time to grow out of the misogynistic comments and remarks.
WAP has been getting an abundance of backlash on the “vulgar” term that is wet ass pussy. Ben Shapiro, a political commentator, had a lot to say regarding the lyrics and the song’s motives. He received a lot of backlash for this and later went to Twitter to clarify that he was only stating that using a “bucket and a mop” for a woman’s “wet-ass pussy” seemed alarming. He only wishes that these women get medical attention because his wife’s doctor had told him that something that extreme could only be some kind of infection. Which begs the question, why does he even get to have an opinion over a woman empowering song? How entitled does one have to feel to discredit Cardi B and all of the women out there feeling empowered and being worthy of being independent and being treated as a well-rounded woman? That was just a way of shaming women for trying to embrace their sexuality and power.
Many male politicians decided to place their input in a topic that doesn’t even concern them such as James P. Bradley. He said via Twitter that he only happened to stumble across the song and when he did he cried so hard and had to wash his eyes out with holy water. He felt personally offended by the lyrics but understood that it is Cardi B’s right to produce a song like that. He later clarified that he was just worried for the future of girls and who they would view as a role model. Bradley released a third tweet stating that he was now worried for the future of the nation because our VP nominee Kamala Harris had videos of her dancing to Cardi’s music and he could only worry about girls looking up to her as a role model.
Both of these men’s tweets give an insight into how men are conditioned to think about women, we are only meant to behave one way and one way only. Everyone has their own opinion when it comes to the song and you can either hate it or love it but you can’t deny that it was meant to uplift women from all different walks of life. The song WAP reminds women to not only embrace their sexuality but celebrate it. It’s the anthem that we need and it's time to reclaim our power and leave these misogynistic ideologies behind.
Wendy Davila is an editorial intern who is knowledgeable in all things environment, sustainability and arts and culture.
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