Man! I Feel Like a Change for Women
Popular culture is a key attribute in our society. Popular songs, music videos, television shows, and movies are all parts of popular culture that are considered to be “cultural artifacts”. Cultural artifacts are items that reveal information and highlight what we value in our society. Popular culture analyst, Dustin Kidd, claims in his journal article “Harry Potter and the Functions of Popular Culture” that there are many functions of these cultural artifacts in society. The most relevant function he discusses is how they “pave the way for social change” (71), meaning they set a groundwork to encourage and support change in our society.
Girl power anthems are cultural artifacts that are striving for social change. In the past, women have been seen in popular culture as the damnsel in distress or have been made up in a way to please the male gaze. This male gaze, according to blogger Natasha Theory, is “how the film industry typically adopts the point of view of heterosexual men by using camera angles and filiming techniques that objectify women” (2). The male gaze can been seen in Robert Palmer’s music video “Addicted to Love” where women appear to be there simply for the pleasure of the male viewers. This furthers the sexist views towards women by objectifying them. In Shania Twain’s girl power anthem “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” she makes an argument against this video by creating a “female gaze” in which men are used for the pleasure of the feamle viewers. She makes a statement that turns the ideas around, trying to create a less sexist portrayal of women in popular culture. There are mixed discussions by feminists on the girl power anthems and their effectiveness of breaking the objectification of women due to their certain “sexiness”. Twain uses her sexiness to make the argument in her video stronger. Through Shania Twain’s visuals and lyrics, she demonstrates her confidence, feelings of superiority, and her female attributes to act out against the old ideas and roles of women in hopes of paving the way for a change in the way women are objectified in popular culture.
Robert Palmer’s music video “Addicted to Love” features himself in the middle of four women with instruments, who are wearing revealing clothing and dancing. The camera zooms in on their bodies throughout the entire video, which is what popular culture does to achieve the male gaze. Although the women are all holding guitars, they are not playing them. The purpose for having them in the video is not to have them play instruments, but for the men who watch the video to be able to enjoy what they see.
The male gaze focalizes “women as objects on a socio cultural level” (Theory 2). Not only does the male gaze objectify women as sex objects in popular culture, but it causes women to be objectified in society as well. The women are objects in the video; since they are not playing the instruments, it is clear that their only purpose in the video is to be something attractive to look at, which is an idea about women that exists in society. Women are considered to be inferior to men and gain much of their attention simply by their looks. Shania Twain’s music video opens with her standing in the front and center with men behind her.
These men are all wearing tight red shirts and black pants, which shows off their bodies as well as giving them a stereotypical masculine look. They are also holding guitars, but not playing them. Twain is in control of how the men move and act throughout the video, showing she can be powerful. Here, Twain is arguing against Palmer’s video and making the men the objectified objects. By doing this, she is creating a female gaze in her video by making the men enjoyable for the female viewers to look at. She seems to be sending a message to men; showing them how it feels to be objectified. By making herself the star of the video, it is showing the viewers that there is more to her than just her looks; it is highlighting her talent and her confidence in herself. Women are not just objects and by creating this video, she is taking a stand against the sexism and male gaze that exists in popular culture. Kidd would believe this to be a “driving force behind social change” (80). An example that Kidd provides is the book “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. This book exposed what was wrong in the food industry and caused a panic amoung people. This lead to a reform in the food industry. When looking at the video with the ideas of Kidd, the driving force for social change is clear in Twain’s video. She exposes the objectification of women in popular culture and makes people aware of the issue. By reversing the gender roles in the video, she is creating a new concept of how women should be portrayed in popular culture; not as objects, but an important and valuable human being.
Although the effort to take a stand against objectification is apparent in Shania’s use of the female gaze in the video, there is conversation on whether or not girl power anthems are actually successful in their attempt. When the video starts, she is covered from head to toe in lose masculine looking clothing. As the video progresses, she begins to remove layers of the clothes, which shows much of her body.
By the end, she is in a short, tight, little black dress; seemingly inviting men to look at her. There is not much to leave to the imagination with what her body looks like. Not only does she show off her body with revealing clothing, but also with seductive dancing. If the goal of her video is to push for an end to objectifying women, how is exposing her body helping the cause? Feminst blogger, Samhita, explains her feelings when she dolls herself up wearing lots of lipstick:
Here, she believes that if she looks “traditionally female” there is no way to support the fight against objectifying women. Making herself look the way men want and expect her to does not seem to push for the change in the objectification of women. While it is true she is exposing herself and it may be contradictory to the cause, if we listen to the lyrics it is clear to what Shania is actually doing by revealing herself for men to look at. In the song she says “I wanna be free to feel the way I feel, man I feel like a woman”. Here, she is stating that in fact she is a woman, that she can embrace how she feels and wants to be free to do so. She should not hide the aspects that her and all women have, it is a part of who they are. Women should not have to hide who they are or what they look like in order to stop being objectified or underminded. This point is further supported by feminist blogger Natasha Theory, who claims:
This is a valid point that women should have the right to be whoever they want to be without being limited as to how they can. Theory disagrees with Samhita’s idea of how women should present themselves if they want to stop being objectified. If women are not allowed to be who they are and embrace their aspects, how will there ever be less objectification and sexism? Shania Twain is embracing who she is in her video and lyrics. She is in control of who she wants to be and places no limitations on herself. Her lyrics go on to further this point with ones such as “going out tonight, feeling alright, gonna let it all hang out” and “curling my hair, do what I dare”. By letting “it all hang out” she is saying that there is no reason to hide your body, it is part of being a woman. When she says “do what I dare” she is saying she will do whatever she wants to make herself feel like a woman, which is what all women should do. Women should not be objectified because of how they look or what has been seen in popular culture in the past.
Twain’s girl power anthem reverses the role that men and women usually have in popular culture. In her video, the woman is the star and of most importantance while the men are simply something nice for the viewer to observe. This is, according to Kidd, a strive for social change by pushing for less productions in popular culture that objectify women. While exposing herself for all viewers to see may appear to be a contradiction to her cause, in reality it is increasing the effectiveness by illustrating that women can be powerful and meaningful while also being attractive. Even though only one example of a girl power anthem is being analyzed, it is clear that the cultural artifact of girl power anthems is having an impact on women. As seen through the conversations had by Samhita and Natasha, women are discussing the anthems and what influence they have as women’s rights evolve. This is significant when we think about the current feminist movement. Advocating for women’s rights and equality can be supported further if popular culture begins to feature a girl power theme. When thinking about the efforts made in girl power anthems, the question on if they have influenced other cultural artifacts arises. The roles of women in other genres of popular culture have been elevated to positions that prior were typically awarded to men, perhaps this could have evolved from the message portrayed in the girl power anthems.
