Beyoncé Breaks Down Feminism In Rare Interview, Slays Us With Her Wisdom
We're 'Crazy In Love' with what she has to say.
It's Beyoncé's world, and according to her recent interview with ELLE Magazine, she wants us all to live in it as equals.
Scoring an interview with Beyoncé is like getting up early enough for sunrise yoga. Rarely does it happen, but when it does, it makes you a better person. We're super jealous of ELLE's Tamar Gottesman, who recently conducted an interview with the goddess of girl power.
In the interview, Queen B broke things down, educating us, dazzling us, and eliciting a collective "YAS KWEEN" from feminists everywhere.
"I'm not really sure people know or understand what a feminist is, but it's very simple. It's someone who believes in equal rights for men and women. I don't understand the negative connotation of the word, or why it should exclude the opposite sex. If you are a man who believes your daughter should have the same opportunities and rights as your son, then you're a feminist. We need men and women to understand the double standards that still exist in this world, and we need to have a real conversation so we can begin to make changes."
Can we get that on a T-shirt?
The Bey Equation: Men + Women = ...well, equal.
She tells ELLE that women have the right to express the same emotions that men do, even if those emotions make others uncomfortable.
"If you believe in equal rights, the same way society allows a man to express his darkness, to express his pain, to express his sexuality, to express his opinion—I feel that women have the same rights."
We couldn't agree with you more, B.
Shout-out to Blue. Your mom is totally looking out for you.
Bey puts equality in perspective as a parent, and makes some really good points about the ridiculous discrepancy in areas like pay and how society expects people to express particular emotions based on their gender.
"Ask anyone, man or woman, 'Do you want your daughter to have 75 cents when she deserves $1?' What do you think the answer would be?" she told ELLE. "When we talk about equal rights, there are issues that face women disproportionately...If your son can do it, your daughter should be able to. Some of the things that we teach our daughters—allowing them to express their emotions, their pain and vulnerability—we need to allow and support our men and boys to do as well."
YES. YES. YES.
So if, after all this, there are STILL people who don't understand feminism, Beyoncé was kind enough to spell it out for you in her 'Flawless' video.
Beyoncé told ELLE, "I put the definition of feminist in my song [Flawless] and on my tour, not for propaganda or to proclaim to the world that I'm a feminist, but to give clarity to the true meaning."
This interview has us forever worshipping at the altar of Beyonce, but TBH we've been doing that for awhile now.