‘WAP’ - The Feminist Perspective
Isn’t it about time women took back ownership of their bodies and control of their image?
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*Please note: this newsletter contains adult themes so reader discretion is advised.
Our pandemic anthem of the summer, WAP, is a gloriously filthy and incredibly taboo tune. If you’re wondering what WAP stands for then wonder no more, it's shorthand for “wet-ass-pussy”. A visual ode to female genitalia, WAP is set in a mansion full of spellbinding colour featuring wild animals and outfits that leave very little to the imagination. So you may wonder, why has a song with subjects we’ve been used to hearing about for years caused so much controversy and uproar in 2020? I’m betting that it has something to do with the fact that Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are the masterminds behind such a track, and the fact that women are typically the subject of sexual fantasies, not the ones in control of and rapping about them. That's what makes this song so radical. If you ask me, I think it’s about time things changed.
Throw it wayyyy back to 2002, and you may remember a similar track “My Neck, My Back” that received backlash by musician Khia. To me it was just another hit summer anthem by a black woman singing about sexual pleasure, even though black women singing about sexual gratification wasn’t new news then and it isn’t new news now. Still, fast forward to 2020 and WAP broke new ground debuting at the top of Spotify’s US Streaming charts, making history as the first female collaboration to do so whilst breaking records for the highest first-day streams for a female-led rap song.
As it stands not everyone was so happy about this accolade, WAP has inspired new controversies almost daily since its release. Californian Republican congressional candidate James P. Bradley tweeted “Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion are what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure”, and that WAP made him want to “pour holy water” in his ears. Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro read the lyrics aloud on his Daily Wire show adding sarcastically “this is what feminism fought for”. And Russell Brand, a self-confessed sex addict who is a triple recipient of the Sun’s ‘Shagger of Year’ award and who once boasted about having sex with multiple women a daily basis, expressed his concern that women cannot “achieve equality by aspiring too and replicating the values that have been established by males”. I mean, where do I even begin?
In all of its success and all of its backlash, what the release of a song like WAP does is highlight and expose society's double standards. The backlash suggests that we can objectify, ogle, and obsess over a woman’s body, but when a woman flexes even an ounce of control and is too raunchy, too nasty, and considered not ladylike enough, then she’s crossed a line. In pop culture, women are always part of sexual fantasies and something to be desired, but are never in control of them. WAP flips the stereotypical gender norms of heterosexual sex and relationships. Cardi and Megan adopt traits were used to associating with masculinity, they become dominant and in control. They’re assertive and not afraid to flaunt their athletic prowess. And for some strange reason, a large portion of society seems to have a real problem with that.
Image via Rogue Rocket.
Black women using humour and wit to sing about sexual pleasure has a long and thorny history were all probably familiar with. Layered into that is the problem of society hyper sexualising Black women and their bodies, but that's a whole other story for another newsletter. Rather than hurtling insults and condemning Cardi and Megan (who are both incredible artists within their own right) we should instead be asking the question, why are people still so offended by women singing about sex?
For every seemingly scandalous song like WAP that gets mainstream airtime, it’s worth remembering there are way too many songs to count that tackle the subject of straight male escapades. WAP uses fantasy-like imagery to weave a narrative of discussing absolutely normal human feelings of desire and arousal. WAP reinforces the fact that women are not just empty vessels put on this Earth for male pleasure, it’s a song created by women from a woman’s point of view. WAP is a sex-positive slice of pop culture thats helping to change the discourse making women more comfortable talking about topics that they may have felt nervous of bringing up before. If you ask me, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. In fact I’m all for it.
Anyways with all of that being said, listen to the song and watch the video below. You know you want to.
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter to see more of what I’m up to, and I’ll see you same time same place next week!
Catch you soon,
J’Nae
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
- I just started reading the now infamous and best-selling book by Reni Eddo-Lodge, ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’. What started out as a blog post quickly spiralled into a worldwide discussion that clearly needed to be had, it still does. I’m not even halfway through and I already feel like I’ve learnt so much.
WHAT I’VE BEEN WATCHING:
- If you love anything medieval and magic themed, then it may be worth checking out Cursed on Netflix. For once, there's a female protagonist at the centre of the story.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
- One of my favourite musicians of this day and age Sza is back with a brand new tune, and this one really does just hit differently.
WHAT’S CAUGHT MY EYE:
- @phenomenal is a female-powered lifestyle brand that brings awareness to important causes and champions equality. It's also 100% Black and brown owned and women led. Can I get an amen?
ON MY BLOG:
- Most of the time I like to go by the philosophy ‘less is more’, but sometimes that just doesn't work out for me. This beauty blog post is definitely not for the faint-hearted.