We need to talk about WAP
A viral moment brought attention to the radicalized way our culture views Black women, their confidence, sexuality, and agency. We need to talk about it.
I had originally written this piece as a means to explore cultural insights that I had emerged from the public response to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s recording breaking hit “WAP.” I am repurposing it here because I have immediate concerns about the future of women’s rights in America. I am by no means suggesting that I am a credible source to talk about what will or will not happen to reproductive care in the United States, but if anything I am a witness to the rising fear and concern.
Months into what’s been a whirlwind of an experience (it’s still a pandemic y’all), two rappers hopped a track, and delivered a blissfully raunchy anthem that revived a little bit of all of us. I’ve needed to talk about it for weeks and couldn’t hold it in any longer.
If Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are not on your radar, let’s get them on your radar. They are two of the biggest and baddest names in music, they’re powerhouses, influencers, self-made brands, meme makers, social media marketers, entrepreneurs and chart topping, record breaking artists.
They exist at the intersection of Internet and culture, and have introduced a new wave of femininity to a genre dominated by men. They’ve shined a new light onto how we talk about Black people during the largest civil rights movement in U.S history. They are women’s rights activists and advocates for female sexuality, independence, and dominance. They are forces to be reckoned with and we need to pay better attention to them and what they’re doing.
An oversimplified history of WAP’s ascent to glory
On August 3, Cardi teases with the mention of a collaboration. The people (me 👼🏽) get excited. Mere days later, we are gifted with a surreal, satirical masterpiece of a music video 💦.
Two days go by and a 28 year old choreographer creates a dance challenge. Cardi sees it, tweets it. Others see it. They recreate the dance on TikTok (and injure themselves). They play it for their parents and film their reactions. Fans make a crazy amounts of content. They even release some merch. For this and many other reasons, the song goes viral and things get interesting.
For a while, it’s all we can talk about. We play WAP on Spotify. We watch WAP on TikTok. We read about it here, here and here. Turns out not everyone likes the song. Some people are actually appalled by it. Some political officials make brash, uninformed public comments in response. Critics find it crude and “really really vulgar.”
So what’s a WAP? It’s a third wave feminist anthem, a spectacle of sexual liberation, education, self-expression, a cultural strategy and an anthem for WOC. It’s a story about what we care about in 2020, and brings attention to the radicalized way our culture views Black women, their confidence, sexuality, and agency.
Oh and there’s the official definition.
Here’s what I’ve witnessed in response to WAP👇
We’ve still got some rules re: who gets to talk about sex and sexuality
Sex is only controversial when women, specifically women of color, talk about it. I made a playlist for y’all. All of these songs are about sex, they’re explicit, they talk about women’s bodies, they’re centred around sexual fantasies and that’s fine when they’re authored by men. We play ‘em at parties. We hear ‘em in movies. We even listen to some of ‘em on the radio.
Yet when two women sing, albeit, in an objectively exxxplicit way about their own bodies and desires, we (read: certain groups of people) freak out.
Ben Shapiro is wrong — this is a deeply important piece of American art that we should pay attention to. It is deeply empowering. Women have very few spaces to talk about their sexuality and desires. This song is about two women owning their sexuality and being vocal and expressive about what they want. If women are truly free to be independent human beings, why can’t that include space to talk about sex from their point of view?
Here’s the thing with accepting how women talk about their sexuality — it has its benefits. Those benefits are the same reason why Barstool’s Call Her Daddy, a podcast about sex and relationships, rose in popularity and why a delay in episodes made major headlines earlier this year. Women lack spaces (both public AND private) to talk about sex. Internet media and pop music grant them these spaces and at the very least give them something to relate their experience to.
I know some of y’all are going to make the argument that this display of women’s sexuality is equally for the male gaze. Yes. But now it’s part of our too. When you build a world around one perspective for most of history, desire will be shaped by that perspective. The more we talk about the varying degree of sexuality and sexual desires, the more we’ll come to accept there are different sexual preferences and it’s cool and okay and allowed (as long as there is consent!).We all have our thing so let your freak flag fly.
“What about the kids Mel?”
If you’re worried about the youth, don’t leave it to pop culture to teach your kids about sex. Rather use it as an opportunity to educate your kids on sex, sexuality, and other related topics including reproductive rights (if you’re not sure where to start here’s a handy link).
WAP is this generation’s feminist slogan
It’s the 2020 version of “my body my choice.” In its own way it is a reclamation of rights, and a redefinition of ideas about womanhood, gender, beauty, and sexuality.
It’s what an army of teenage girls working as ushers and defenders at an abortion clinic in North Carolina used to (of)fend off opposing religious protesters, who were reading Bible passages to antagonize patients seeking reproductive care. By singing the lyrics and viral-shaming the protesters online, these young women used the song to protect other women and their right to choice. WAP memes are protest tools. They’re WAPons of defence.
Designing for culture means designing for memes
From every perspective WAP was set up to succeed. In the era of creator culture it’s marketing genius, ready to be memefied. WAP is pure content candy, no matter your niche. With a platform like TikTok where content is easy to make and even easier to watch, it’s easy to go viral.
The song is a delight to listen to and really fun to watch others experience for the first time. Parents versus WAP could be its own think piece.
The WAP legacy still continues even a month after the song’s release, with people creating unexpected but delightful mashups and remixes.
Going viral demands an understanding of what people will talk about
The song and music video were built to be discussed. Look at the lyrics. The cinematography. The casting. We already know people will have an opinion on women talking about their own bodies. We also know featuring a star studded cast with the likes of Normani, Rosalía, Mulatto, Sukihana, and Rubi Rose is going to get some attention.
But mostly we know that any mention of Kylie Jenner and people will talk. Talking leads to news, news leads to memes, memes lead to more visibility. (I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, Kris Jenner deserves a Cannes Lion).
I can’t help but to notice👇
People would rather discuss a horny rap song than what’s currently happening to Black people in America
Police brutality towards Black lives has been flooding our timelines everyday of this year. Deaths from Covid-19 were/are disproportionately higher among communities of color. Medical bias against Black people is shaping Covid-19 treatment and care.
We needed a constant stream of violence and murders to pay attention to Black experiences. It took the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breoana Taylor, the recent shooting of Jacob Blake and protests in the middle of a global pandemic to pay attention to issues that have existed in America since it was founded. We’re more invested in judging and regulating what is and isn’t respectable Black female expression. Like all the issues Black people in America are facing right now, this song was louder in social discourses than racial inequality, systematic racism and the criminal justice system.
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion have single handedly done more to invest in young women of color than many official leaders who populate our timelines
In partnership with Cash App the pair donated $500 to 2000 women. So they quite literally empowered young women.
You see, no matter what way I look at it, WAP is political. Look at who is critical of it and who has celebrated it. A song like WAP could not be more necessary in these weird, lonely, unprecedented times. It’s exactly what women like me — women of color — need, a reminder that they are strong, powerful and can navigate the world on their own terms.
So yes, this is an important moment and it deserves attention. WAP is rich with cultural insights and and an understanding of how to be a part of culture and conversation. Diminishing or dismissing this cultural moment is sexist, racist and kind of embarrassing actually.
How can my brand mirror the WAP effect?
- Make space for women’s voices and women’s sexuality
(if it makes sense for your brand) - Don’t be dismissive of trends and topics that make you uncomfortable
- Recognize that every viral moment is a cultural insight
- Consider that if you make it, they will meme it, memes mean relevance, relevance means attention (for your cause or your brand)
- Take time to understand creator culture
- Know that your audience is probably horny and in dire need of a laugh
- Invest in women of color
- Do whatever you can to get people to vote
