Jada Pinkett Smith defends Beyoncé's Chime for Change concert costume
OPINION - What we can say for certain is that by wearing leather panties and a sheer top, Beyoncé helped to sell millions of dollars in tickets to promote her cause...
“Huge concert promoting female empowerment… and Beyoncé’s backing dancers are all wearing thongs,” went a scathing accusation.
Jennifer Lopez and Rita Ora have also received flack for ostensibly showing too much skin, and acting hyper-sexually, in a context meant to celebrate the female sex.
Popular feminist web site Jezebel weighed in, questioning whether these entertainers were merely being typical pop stars, or should have engaged in better judgement.
“They always perform in slightly provocative costumes; wouldn’t it be disingenuous to cover-up just this once?” Dodai Stewart, Jezebel’s deputy editor, wrote. “Still, at an event about investing in girls around the world — 60% of the children not in school are girls — it’s worth applying some critical thinking to the choices supposedly empowered women make.”
Jada Pinkett Smith, a presenter a the Chime for Change concert, came to these ladies’ defense on her Facebook page.
“Whose body is this anyway?” the movie star and noted activist working to end sexual trafficking began.
“There was some backlash about the performance outfits for the Chime concert,” Pinkett Smith continued. “Since a woman’s body has been deeply connected to sin, it’s easy to forget all the power and beauty her body and sexuality possesses. Yes, with this power comes great responsibility, but how was Beyonce’s tasteful outfit irresponsible? Here is the problem I see, a woman’s body is too much power for one woman to have, even Beyonce. Although we see corporations exploit this power through women and girls, with far less clothing on than Beyonce, to sell their products, do we protest? But hey, a woman has to be in check, right? Know her position since we’ve all been taught that a powerful woman is dangerous and that a powerful man makes the world go round. Here’s the deal… soon the reign of shame on a woman’s body and her control of it will end. She will be autonomous. For she can’t truly be free without it. And oh boy…what a different world this place will be…when she is free.”
Sexual empowerment in the West might be seen as the final frontier for these women, while the women and girls Chime for Change wants to help have very different concerns. Some would agree that the provocativeness of a Beyoncé performance gives a British or American woman the inspiration to address the world with a little more empowering sass, but this will not directly help the young woman who does not attend school because her culture deems it unimportant for her to do so.
What we can say for certain is that by wearing leather panties and a sheer top, Beyoncé helped to sell millions of dollars in tickets to promote her cause. This may not be directly “empowering” for the women and girls Chime for Change was created to help. Yet, if she can use the same tools that help her sell records to fund programs that can directly impact those lives, perhaps Beyoncé’s costume naysayers might be mollified by considering her underlying motivation.
Follow Alexis Garrett Stodghill on Twitter at @lexisb.
