Put a Ring on It

Put a Ring on It
I did a short writing project with my class last month, where we listened to “Independent Women part 1” by Destiny’s Child, and then “Can’t Hold Us Down” by Christina Aguilera. Then we watched the videos. The questions were: What does it sound like? What is it about? Is it a feminist song?

The results were fairly mixed, but generally shifted from “yes, feminist” to “no, not feminist” after watching the videos.

My favorite part of this assignment though was the last part: playing “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”, Beyoncé’s new single, and addressing the same questions.

Here were some responses:

Horrible song. Says not only that men should possess women, but sends a message, maybe to the men listening that all women care about is a ring on their finger.

I love this woman. She can seriously do no wrong in my eyes. It has a good beat, you can dance to it, and honestly, I think it has a pretty awesome message.

Man makes me whole? The beats are awesome! Not really a feminist song, but COME ON!

Sounds kind of awkward, like I kind of want to dance, and I kind of want to leave the club. Get married? It is all we want? If you are sexy then guys should be clamoring to marry you and you should go for it. At a time when we are moving more and more progressive toward a secular country, I don’t understand whey a song about marriage would be popular: “Cried my tears for three long years”? Eeww.

It’s about how dumb her last man was for losing her b/c she’s so awesome.

Hypocritical, out of touch?!

It is saying if I don’t have you it’s ok because I have him. Whatever happened to standing on your own? Well that’s the opposite of a feminist song.

She just got married didn’t she? It sounds like a video game. Get married? I want to dance! I am not sure if this a feminist song or not. I am undecided.

The song is about how single ladies should show their men that they should put a ring on their finger if they want to keep them or else they will find a new man. The song sounded upbeat and I wanted to dance. The song is not a feminist song. Why do women need rings?

Way to go Beyoncé! The song is about moving on and getting on with your life after you break up with someone. She sings about women recognizing her own value and worth.

Beyonce, ½ of the world’s wealthiest couple. Sounds like putting a ring in a cow’s nose. She mentions her mom’s brand of jeans. A ring, a chastity belt, genital piercing, about ownership and women’s worth through a man’s physical possession.

Man makes me/takes me. The title, “Single Ladies” sounds like it will be an empowering anthem. It is not.

I love this song but not for specifically feminist reasons. I think that this sort of song often encapsulates a feminism that is an everyday experience rather than a purely theoretical one.

This song sounds like a ring commercial. This song is about single ladies and men who missed out. This song is not really feminist, it has traditional values about worth being associated with marriage.

The Loaded Surfaces of Life

I have my class read “Subculture: the Meaning of Style”, just the intro and the first chapter, to get an idea about what culture is, and subculture, and some intro semiotics, and some investigation into the ideas of “ideology” and “hegemony.”

At the end of the first chapter, Dick Hebdige writes:

Jean Genet, the archetype of the ‘unnatural’ deviant, again exemplifies the practice of resistance through style. He is as convinced in his own way as is Roland Barthes of the ideological character of cultural signs. He is equally oppressed by the seamless web of forms and the meanings which enclose and yet exclude him. His reading is equally partial. He makes his own list and draws his own conclusions:

I was astounded by so rigorous an edifice whose details were united against me. Nothing in the world is irrelevant: the stars on a general’s sleeve, the stock-market quotations, the olive harvest, the style of the judiciary, the wheat exchange, the flower-beds, . . . Nothing. This order . . . had a meaning – my exile. (Genet, 1967)

I try an experiment tonight, where I say to the class, ok, what is your list? What is on it? The things that order your exile. I say, I don’t want to imply that you are homosexual thieves, but I do know that there is a list in all of us. I had them write five things, first, and then give me three. Here’s what they wrote:

Messed up teeth, southern accents, working class
Time, space, degree
Forced/expected motherhood, television, expected consumerism
Consumerism, apathy, conformity without question
Aging, body image, teeth, loss of optimism, acceptance/success as returning student
Perfect wrinkle and scar free skin, large houses
Financial institutions, subjective beauty, corporations
Stock market, politics, money, fashion, hair, conversation, drugs
Leering men in public, sexist advertising, need to get married to be legitimate/have kids
Not feeling safe on the street at night
Language barriers, motherhood/reproductive rights/class in relation to who your father is
Men “outing” me in public, clowns (happy face with unknown meaning), jealousy
Body image, economic standing, language barriers
My gender, my culture, experience
Adult and Family Services, child welfare, fashion
Appearance, education, money
Self-acceptance, money, time
Minimum wage, bras, cars, meat consumption
Skinny women, war, politics
Sexism, ignorance, negative attention
People, being white, sexism
Fear, class, religion
Woman, young, in college (expected to pay for everything, but not able to have a career)
Religion, ignorance, lipstick
Female, young, unable to support myself financially w/o help
Woman, young, appearance/body
Church pews, aluminum siding, entitlement
Wanting to not have a schedule
Being reduced to a piece of ass b/c of my looks
The sucky economy
Fashion changes, money, fitting into the social norm, racism

This order . . . had a meaning – my exile.