Today in class we were talking about how women in the Renaissance were thought to be less than men. We were talking about the queen's speech when she is talking to her army before the Spanish Armada. She says It is crazy to think about the extremity of those times but if you think about it, times haven't changed that much. Beyonce came out with a song in 2008 called If I Were A Boy. The opening lyrics to her song are,
"If I were a boy even just for a dayI'd roll out of bed in the morningAnd throw on what I wanted and goDrink beer with the guysAnd chase after girlsI'd kick it with who I wantedAnd I'd never get confronted for it'Cause they stick up for me"
The first three lines of the song remind me of the primary source when it talks about all the women being "fluffed up" and the only thing they care about is putting rings on their fingers and parting their hair the correct way. And then the men just roll out of bed and they are ready for the day because they are concerned with more important things then their looks. The next few lines about chasing after girls and never getting confronted for it reminds me of the whole chastity issue with women. Men can just run around and sleep with who they want and no one says anything about it. But the SECOND people find out about a woman sleeping around it is the end of the world and they are no longer suitable for marriage. I just think it's strange that really nothing has changed.
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This is an extremely good point, Ashley. Beyonce takes the entire song to describe how different her life would be if she were the opposite gender. Ciara also has a song along the same lines. This song is called “Like a Boy” and she basically talks about how men can get away with so much more than women can. As Ashley said, a man sleeping around and a woman sleeping around are very different situations in society of the 1400s and society of today. Men are treated differently and held to a different stadard. Their actions have different consequences, if any at all. In the case of Ciara's song it is a more personal version of this general idea. She is talking about cheating and is saying that males can easily get away with it because they are the dominant sex but women would be completely scrutinized if they behaved in the exact same “acceptable” way as men. The chorus of “Like A Boy” specifically displays this gender discrimination that we are still facing. It says,
What if I?...
Had a thing on the side?
Made ya cry?
Would the rules change up?...
Or would they still apply?...
If I played you like a toy?...
Sometimes I wish I could act like a boy
I would't say the the times we live in has not made any progress in the scrutinizing only women who sleep around, because there are many terms used now a days for a boy who sleeps around with many ladies, and I am not referring to someone being called a player or a womanizer, the terms I am thinking of sound much more vulgar with a more negative connotation. I like to think that it is more widely acceptable for a women nowadays to have more than one lover and not be a virgin. From the two song both of you all have mentioned above I do understand the inequality between men and women and how each gender have different accepted "norms." But I would say I do see some tides changing.
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