CIVIC IMAGINATION
The powerful message behind Ciara’s 2007 hit: “Like a Boy”
Published by Eleana Ramirez | February 26, 2022.
I’m gonna break down the beauty in one of my favorite songs, “Like a Boy” by Ciara. The song is essentially about Ciara’s frustration with deficiencies in the traditional and outdated standard perceptions of what gender roles in society consists of. She discusses the extreme polarity between society’s expectations regarding behaviors/tendencies associated with men versus women. This girl-power track was released back in 2007 when occurrences of sexism were more common and extreme than they are today. In the early 2000s, concepts of feminism were emerging, but there was still a high disproportion between the power and capability levels a male had over a female. Men were expected to be the breadwinners, tough/strong/unemotional beings, backbones of the family, and the hero figure in events of adversity. In contrast, women were expected to bear children, cook, clean, look pretty, be emotional and caring… you get the idea: all aspects are highly correlated with the standard gender stereotypes in society.
The first few lines reflect a reimagined alternative to societal conditions pertaining to the expected set of functions and behaviors correlated with male and female genders. The song conveys Ciara’s fantasy of a society where women reciprocate masculine energy upon men to increase their understanding of a woman’s perspective on the receiving end of poor treatment from a man. The first few lines of the song discuss women doing tasks that are classified as masculine, implying that they are just as capable/valuable as men. She then discusses how if the roles were switched, men would hate being treated as they treat women.
Achieving the reimagined alternative in this song would require a systematic change because the general behavior of systems would need to change in how men and women operate in society. Luckily for females, this improvement in gender equality has been implemented throughout the past decade and conditions are way better than they used to be. An article by Martha Rampton, director of the Center for Gender Equity at Pacific University, states, “The first wave of feminism took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, emerging out of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal, socialist politics. The goal of this wave was to open up opportunities for women, with a focus on suffrage.” Since the time that this song was released, issues of discrimination among sexes have improved a great amount. Therefore, Ciara’s reimagined alternative has proven to be a potential reality as our societies continue to evolve. Lastly, the music video is sensational because she utilizes gestures, outfits, dance moves, and actions that are defined as masculine. By demonstrating how women can just as easily do anything that a man can, it shows potential for the actual evolution of female roles in society if we all work together and contribute to standing against stereotypes.