“I want to know what a conservative woman like you thinks.”
Right Wing Conservative Stephanie Hamill confronted US rapper Cardi B over Twitter, asking how the song and music video that she collaborated on with City Girls, empowers women in today’s #meToo age. She not only addresses the tweet to the artist but also people from the left wing. As you can imagine, this has sparked a whole lot of controversy over Twitter.
In the Era of #meToo how exactly does this empower women?
Leftists, @iamcardib , feel free to chime in.
THX .. pic.twitter.com/59fyDxrYAz— Stephanie Hamill (@STEPHMHAMILL) January 21, 2019
Cardi B tweeted back to the Daily Caller video columnist clearly arguing that the movement is about consent and that no matter how you portray yourself, “NO still means NO.”
It says to women that I can wear and not wear what ever I want. do w.e I want and that NO still means NO. So Stephanie chime in..If I twerk and be half naked does that mean I deserve to get raped and molested ? I want to know what a conservative woman like you thinks 🤔 https://t.co/8UBQQzO6jK
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) January 22, 2019
Stephanie Hamill is formally known as a journalist and for her role as a video columnist for the Daily Caller. She is, however, more known for being a political commentator, defending conservatives and denouncing inconsistencies with the Left-Wing. The #meToo movement, one that she has described as being “liberal” and “leftist,” sparked over social media in 2017 as, not only a way to encourage victims of sexual assault to come forward and find support, but also to put some perspective on the proportion of the problem. Evidently, a simple Tweet leaves room for a huge amount of interpretation and should in no way be taken at face value. With that being said, there are several issues with the statement that she posted on the social media platform.
It is a very subjective statement because although some women may not see the music video as being empowering, others may do. They may feel that seeing other women being able to feel comfortable showing their bodies and expressing their sexuality is empowering. Some may find empowering in a different way because in truth, not everyone enjoys expressing themselves in that way. People find inspiration in different things. What Twitter has shown is that there are certainly lots of women who agree with Stephanie and don’t find the video empowering but there are also more who agree with Cardi and find that it is. This just proves that there is no wrong or right answer in that regard.
Now, the empowerment of women isn’t the only issue with the statement, as Stephanie has brought up the #meToo movement. When looking at the entire picture in black and white, a video of women twerking doesn’t have much to do with a movement against sexual assault, and especially one that also encompasses men. What Tweeters are going to take from Stephanie’s statement is that she believes women expressing their sexuality in this way is what leads them to be sexually assaulted. Firstly, this doesn’t explain how men get sexually assaulted. We see very few male artists in the media, that express themselves in the same way as Cardi B and City Girls in their music video. Secondly, the #meToo has a strong focus on sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, where you’ll find women are dressed in professional attire and presumably not twerking or showing their bodies. Thirdly, this one music video doesn’t represent women as a whole. Even if it did, there is no proven correlation between this image of women and the likeliness of women getting assaulted or harassed.
This is by no means a new debate but it’s certainly a relevant one today. Check out City Girls and Cardi B’s music video here.
By Sam Dawson
Images provided by Cardi B/Twitter
Reverbium 