IndexIntroductionArtifact DescriptionThe Gender Binary and Other Ideas About GenderGendered BodiesGender PerformanceIntersectionalityGender InequalityConclusionWorks Cited:IntroductionBeyoncé Knowles began her music career at an early age with a band composed of his childhood friends. His father left his job in the co-op world to help run the group. After achieving some success; Beyoncé later broke away from the group and began her solo career. His platform increased and his fame exploded. The singer, dancer, entrepreneur and actress has never looked back and throughout her success has instilled in her fans the importance of feminism and the importance of race early on. Many of her songs dictate just this, Beyoncé's song “If I were a boy” is the most significant of her songs because it reiterates the gender binary, gendered bodies, gender performance, intersectionality and inequality of type. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Description by Artifact The song “If I Were a Boy” is an incredible example of gender roles and how they are presented. At the beginning of the music video, the couple expresses the key components of their ideal relationship. Beyoncé responds with the male stereotype, her first phrase is “intimacy”. Her partner, who expresses the female stereotype, responds with “honesty”. In this video typical gender stereotypes are reversed. Beyoncé's husband prepares her a homemade breakfast, she takes a bite and leaves, showing no degree of gratitude. She goes to work and flirts with her partner during the day, while her husband goes to work and proceeds to look for gifts for her. Attractive women ask him out and he refuses and ignores the obvious attention. She goes out with her friends, doesn't tell her, and ignores all her calls because she stays late at work. Days later, the couple goes to a party and she dances with an intense degree of sexual tension with her partner. Her husband gets angry and when they return home they argue and she replies “why are you so jealous, it's not like I'm sleeping with that boy. He replies "what?" there is silence and the roles are reversed. The husband replies “I said it's not like I'm sleeping with the girl”. The next morning, we as an audience see the roles revered. She cooks him a big meal, he takes a bite and goes to work and flirts with his partner. The song then ends with the powerful lyrics “but you're just a boy.” Describing the video, Beyoncé (2008) states: “It's kind of like Freaky Friday. At the beginning of the video, my husband makes me breakfast and is excited about it, while I don't have time to eat. As a police officer, I have a male partner and the video looks back to our days. My husband is at work and has attractive girls flirting with him, but he rejects their advances. I have a boyfriend who flirts with me, and I flirt back. Beyoncé added that the video depicts common things men do to hurt their partners, such as not answering the phone. She explained: “It's about all the little things that mean so much in a relationship. By the end of the clip you realize that I was acting out his life and it all starts over again. a cop and all that happened was actually him doing the same thing to me (songfacts, 2008) The gender binary and other ideas about gender The gender binary it is the concept that there are only two types of people. Male-bodied individuals who highlight masculinity and female-bodied individuals who embody binary genderopposites of a plane (Wade and Ferree, 2015). Beyoncé reinforced the gender binary in her song and music video in so many ways. The beginning of the song goes “If I were a boy, just for a day. I got out of bed in the morning, put on whatever I wanted and left. This statement overshadows the idea that women need to take longer to prepare and appear more put-together and well-groomed than men to fully function in society. This ideal has been embedded throughout society for a long time and makes it seem like their only purpose is to be presentable in the eyes of those around them. She also states, “(If I were a boy) I would put myself first and make up the rules as I go along. Because I know he would be faithful to me, waiting for me to come home. This statement reinforces the male stereotype that men are unfaithful, neglectful, and selfish. Gendered Bodies Male and female bodies are scientifically similar but not entirely the same. Janet Hyde, a psychologist, combined 7,084 studies conducted by various researchers that examined 124 alternative aspects to completely map the difference between men and women in thoughts, feelings, behavior, intellectual abilities, communication styles, and abilities. “Hyde found no differences between men and women for 30% of the traits examined. In a further 48%, small gender differences were found” (Wade and Ferree, 2015, p. 37). Wade and Ferree mention these differences in their book, according to one statistic men are more likely to engage in heroic helping behavior than women. Beyoncé played it well, when she plays male stereotypes, single-handedly confronts a criminal from a convince store and aggressively slams him into the police car, showing courage and heroism. Gender Performance Gender performance can be seen as anything that has to do with sexual identity. This can mean the type of clothes men and women look at, the type of body language, the prefix before your name (Ms., Mr., Miss, etc.). This does not necessarily have to be related to the biological aspect of gender. Gender performance is mental and voluntary. Beyoncé expressed this throughout the video. The husband worked in a co-op environment and seemed quite clean and well-groomed. Beyoncé worked for the police department and wore a little less clothing, and embodied her physique. As roles were switched and Beyoncé became more feminine, she remained shy and wore a significant amount of clothing than her husband. She was wearing slacks, a blazer, and a blouse buttoned to the top. The interpreter; whether it was the husband or Beyoncé, the femininity seemed much more passive, the body language was gentle and soft, and their clothing was very modest. When the performance of masculinity came to par, the body language was very aggressive and confident. As stated by Nandini Seshadri (2013); “Almost all gender expression is performed. That is, almost every way you communicate your gender to others around you is a culturally determined gender performance rather than an innate biological expression. they apply to a given individual or group and are believed to create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. Black women are often seen as less feminine, and more on the masculine side of the plan than feminine, because during the time of slavery they would do just as hard work as men. Black women are often discriminated against for wearing their hair naturally and having darker skin because white women have invaded beauty standards (Wade and Ferree, 2015). Beyoncé fights this discriminatory view that women have..