WOMEN WE LOVE FIVE TIMES MADONNA SMASHED THE PATRIARCHY

[sotos8]

I remember listening to the True Blue album on my walkman so much that a tangled mess of tape would come out and I would fix it with a pencil. (If you’re in your thirties, you know what I’m talking about it. If you’re younger than that, you’re probably still stuck on “what’s a walkman?”) I never wore the classic Madonna outfit–the black half shirt, the fish net gloves, lace leggings, and mini skirt. I was a little young for that but I totally would have if my mother would have allowed it.

Madonna is known for being a boss. Her business skills are often described as “manipulative”, “relentless”, and “brilliant”. Some of those adjectives might not have been used if she were a man. Madonna is a shrewd businesswoman who worked hard for her successes. She knows her brand and she has marketed it well.

Aside from her business successes, she has indisputably had an effect on music and has opened the doors for female artists to express their sexuality and while some may not find that to be much of a feminist accomplishment, it speaks directly to the patriarchal concept of the virgin-whore dichotomy. Madonna fought for freedom of expression–yes, much of what she wanted to express was sexual in nature–but why shouldn’t women have equal opportunity to express whatever they want artistically?

So let’s recognize Madonna’s fearlessness with five times that Madonna proved that she’s the OG of pop music:

1. Like a Prayer & Papa Don’t Preach

When Like a Prayer came out, I remember my mother having an opinion on it which was rare. She didn’t often comment on pop culture. We weren’t a religious family. I remember going to church twice, once for Easter and the other time I was there because they were offering free family portraits. Nevertheless, my mother was absolutely horrified that Madonna was getting down in a church with a black man. Scandalous! I, however, thought that this was the greatest video ever made and I could listen to that song on repeat for days.

Like a Prayer really was pretty shocking. Madonna made a video in 1989 featuring a black man getting arrested for a white man’s crime, interracial sexual activity in a church, stigmata, and burning fucking crosses. Boom! That was hardcore for 1989.

This wasn’t the first time Madonna pissed everyone off with a video and it wouldn’t be the last time she would anger religious leaders. With Like a Prayer, Madonna shook things up even more than when she released the Papa Don’t Preachvideo in 1986 which elicited responses from everyone from Gloria Allred, the spokesperson for the National Organization for Women at the time, to Planned Parenthood, to Tipper Gore all for different reasons. Papa Don’t Preach, a song about a pregnant teenager who decides to continue her pregnancy, was considered by many to be a ringing endorsement of teen pregnancy. It was a sign of the conservative Reagan era that people actually thought that Madonna’s video would cause otherwise “good girls” to go out and get themselves pregnant. How little faith they had in young women. Since we never did see that Papa Don’t Preach baby boom nine months later, I’m assuming that Madonna didn’t turn teenagers into wanton hussies with bastard children. Madonna was also accused of fanning the flames of the abortion debate. Anti-Choice groups latched onto the song as being “pro-life”. They continue to list Papa Don’t Preach as a “pro-life” song but often use a disclaimer that Madonna isn’t “pro-life” but the song is.

2. Sex, The book

In 1992, Madonna released a coffee table book of soft-core erotica images called Sex. I emphasize coffee table book because seriously, who would do such a thing in 1992? A coffee table book is just that. It’s sitting on your coffee table when your Aunt comes over for tea. No one had a book that needed to be relegated to the back of the closet when relatives came over in 1992. If the internet was a thing when Sex was released, Madonna would have broken it. Conservatives were nearly being overcome with the vapors over this. It was shocking and certainly contributing to the downfall of society and the demoralizing of America’s youth.

The book contained images, many of which were sadomasochistic, of Madonna alone and with models, some of which were women. They were all engaged in various sexual poses. This was one of the first times that Madonna addressed gay sexuality. She was later praised by LGBT groups for depicting lesbian sex openly and equally with the heterosexual pairings in the book. For an example, clickhere (obviously not safe for work. duh).

The release of the book was simultaneously a shit show and also fairly epic. It was banned in some countries including India and Japan. Bookstores were on the ready to deliver a speech about censorship and the role of book sellers to anyone who protested their selling the book. The Vatican publicly condemned the book. All the while, Madonna said that she did it to “liberate” America because we were all too Puritanical and then she went on being a boss.

Fun Fact: Vanilla Ice, who was unfortunately Madonna’s boyfriend at the time, said that seeing Madonna with other men in the book was the reason for their break up. If I were Madonna, I would be grateful every day that I published that book. That man is a tool.

3. Human Nature

By the time Human Nature came out in 1994, I was no longer listening to pop music and was way more into the punk stuff. I couldn’t relinquish my punk cred by listening to Madonna but Human Nature was so fucking fantastic that I still secretly listened to it when my friends weren’t around. The lyrics are rather feministy:

4. The Feminist Interview

Madonna did this interview in March. It’s really a great read and if you’re interested in Madonna’s views about social justice, feminism, women, and sexuality, you should definitely read it. Madonna has this to say about the state of the world for women right now:

“Well, I think that we still live in an incredibly sexist society, even though it seems like women have made a lot of strides. A woman is still put in a category, still put in boxes. You can be sexy, but you can’t be smart. You can be smart, but you can’t be sexy. You can be sexy, but you can’t be 50.

“So, we live in a very ageist society, which means we live in a sexist society because nobody ever gives men shit for how they behave, however old they are. There is no rulebook. As a man, you can date whoever you want. You can dress however you want. You can do whatever you want in any area that you want. But, if you’re a woman, there are rules, and there are boundaries. And, I feel like a lot of my biggest critics are women.”

5. She’s a survivor

I would be remiss if I didn’t write about Madonna as a survivor. As a child, Madonna experienced the death of her mother to breast cancer which affected her deeply. She was raised in a religious family with strict gender roles and patriarchal influences. Despite all of that, she left her home and set about making herself into the

best selling female artist of all time

. While in New York, Madonna was

raped at knife point

but never reported the crime. She has since spoken out about how shame and fear about the reporting process kept her from reporting the rape. Madonna is a survivor who has worked damn hard to get where she is today. She said this about her new song with Nicki Minaj called

Bitch I’m Madonna

: “I feel like I’ve earned the right to say, ‘Bitch, I’m Madonna. Don’t fuck with me.’ I’m allowed to do this now. I’ve earned my stripes.” Fuck yeah, Madonna. You have.

I always like to include a balanced perspective so here are a few things that we might want to keep in mind while recognizing Madonna’s accomplishments. I don’t want to make Madonna out as though she’s flawless so

here’s an article

about the recent controversy over the images she altered of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. (Madonna responded to the criticism by saying that she altered the photos to look like the image of her on her

Rebel Heart

album cover to recognize their rebel hearts. She said she was not comparing herself to anyone).

Additionally, Madonna made some recent comments indicating that women are “the most marginalized group in society”. It is rarely helpful to compare the disadvantages of various oppressed groups to each other. Patricia Arquette

played this card at the Oscars last year

and it went over, well, poorly to say the least. For more information, click

here

.

And, if we’re going to recognize Madonna’s weaknesses, let’s also throw that weird accent in there that she was rocking for a while. You’re American, Madonna. Not British. We still love you.

[Shan]

Alright that last part drives me fucking crazy. Seems like no one can praise Madonna without being "balanced" and having to be negative about her. I honestly don't see people doing that for every other pop star or person.

[Raider of the lost Ark]

It was a nice read until bringing those altered photos up. It was NOT Madonna who altered them. It was her fans. She just posted them on Instagram. And the British accent. Seriously?

[HolidayGuy]

Where is this from?

[sotos8]

Where is this from?

http://www.theradicalnotion.com/

[Jazzy Jan]

Alright that last part drives me fucking crazy. Seems like no one can praise Madonna without being "balanced" and having to be negative about her. I honestly don't see people doing that for every other pop star or person.

Agree with you totally. I just don't get some Madonna fans who feel they have to put some negative comments in or else they feel like they are being too much of a fan. Or fans who go on blogs, groups etc who always want to point out that they hate certain things/songs/albums about Madonna and point it out ALL the time. Then they go all militant and like cry-babies with the whole " I am entitled to my opinion etc" and "I don't have to like everything about Madonna" if others say anything.

Whilst I agree with them in having freedom to like and dislike anything and of course they don't,have to like everything but why bring up and point out the negative things on such a continual basis. It is not as if they just say it once or twice, it is ongoing. There are things I don't love about Madonna and songs etc but why talk about them so much when there is so much else to enjoy. I don't see this happening with any other artist.

[Guest Rocco Papa]

I think Madonna's views on feminism have been very clear over the years. Here's what she told Cosmo this year:

Cosmpolitan: And now? How do you feel about calling yourself a feminist?
Madonna: I think humanist is a better idea. I don’t like the idea of segregating. Human beings all need to be treated with dignity and honor and respect – gay, straight, bi, black, white, male, female, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, whatever. The revolution of love is not about just pushing the rights of women, it’s pushing the rights of every living creature on this planet.

Read more: http://www.madonnarama.com/posts-en/2015/04/10/madonna-unapologetic-bitch-is-about-a-guy-who-fucked-me-over/#ixzz3dezr4gZ1

And I have to say, I wholeheartedly agree!

[nemo64]

Agree with you totally. I just don't get some Madonna fans who feel they have to put some negative comments in or else they feel like they are being too much of a fan. Or fans who go on blogs, groups etc who always want to point out that they hate certain things/songs/albums about Madonna and point it out ALL the time. Then they go all militant and like cry-babies with the whole " I am entitled to my opinion etc" and "I don't have to like everything about Madonna" if others say anything.

Whilst I agree with them in having freedom to like and dislike anything and of course they don't,have to like everything but why bring up and point out the negative things on such a continual basis. It is not as if they just say it once or twice, it is ongoing. There are things I don't love about Madonna and songs etc but why talk about them so much when there is so much else to enjoy. I don't see this happening with any other artist.

It's strange, isn't it? Madonna has such a large body of work and there are bound to be some parts of her creative output that might or might not appeal to her fans. I can't understand the behaviour you've observed either.

That last paragraph about offering up a balanced perspective? It's just plain silly that the writer felt the need to qualify that Madonna isn't flawless and had to pick on some random stuff to show that she has "weaknesses", perceived ones I might add.

[ameixarocks]

.

Edited December 12, 2016 by ameixarocks

[ameixarocks]

..

Edited December 12, 2016 by ameixarocks

[Camacho]

Where is this from?

http://www.theradicalnotion.com/five-times-madonna-smashed-the-patriarchy/