For my #17 gender portfolio, I wanted to talk about the song my friend recommended a little while ago.
The song, titled "Girls on Fire," by Alicia Keys, was released in 2012. It has the theme of women's empowerment, and the lyrics tell women that they have strength, power, and resilience even if they are alone. The song itself is empowering, but the music video takes it to an even higher level of empowerment. (The video also helps understand the message.)
The music video features a woman who cleans the room, works, and takes care of her children and her mother. She does all of these completely by herself. Not only that, but when her husband, who does not do any of these things, comes around and tries to get her attention, she refuses it and keeps doing what she wants to do.
With the lyrics and the music video, Alisha Keys tries to tell women in this world that women are capable of taking care of everything by ourselves, even without the support from men, and that we are on fire!!!
This song and its theme can be considered an artifact to fight against patriarchy, which refers to a social system where men hold more authority and power than women. I thought this song and the music video show that women are not inferior to men, and they can manage everything they need to do by themselves, which is the opposite of what is expected in patriarchal society.
Listening to this song gives me courage that I can do whatever I want, and I have so much ability and potential.
