Ariana Grande, God is a woman

Feminist critique

Last night I was on YouTube listening to music. When I was flicking through the various videos the video, God Is A Woman. I originally put this video on because I like a lot of songs by Ariana Grande, but I felt very intrigued by this video. I felt intrigued by this video due to the sense of female empowerment put in place by Grande, through both the video and the song.

The point of this video is clear from the first second when it opens with a universe revolving around a woman. This video is going to be about how a woman should be the master of her own universe rather than letting anyone else decide their destinies for them. This is an important idea because woman typically have been oppressed in history, and Grande is promoting the idea that a woman is the master of her own destiny.

Grande makes it clear who is currently oppressing women in her video. However, this idea is most evidently shown when Grande is depicted sitting down with white men throwing hurtful comments at her that she is ignoring. Men have typically oppressed women throughout history by keeping them powerless, keeping them out of the workplace, and trying to keep them at home rearing children. They did this due to biological differences that they believed deemed males to be superior to females.

Grande offers an alternative opinion than men historically had in her video. Grande believes that woman are powerful enough to decide their own destinies for themselves. This is shown in various depictions throughout the video. For example, Ariana Grande constantly depicts herself with three vicious dogs behind her in various parts of the video. Since having dogs behind you can make you seem dangerous, Grande is really trying to show she is powerful and in turn that women are powerful. Also, in the video Grande presents us with an image of her with a hammer breaking a glass ceiling at one point in the video. I took this to represent Grande (a woman) destroying the “glass ceiling” or barrier that men have placed to prevent woman from holding positions of power both in the workplace and in life. By Grande shattering this glass ceiling it furthers the message that woman are powerful enough to overcome the oppression that they face at the hands of men, and be the makers of their own destiny.

Grande also uses this video to reveal the idea that the biological differences that are inherent in men and women that have always been used to make women inferior to men, actually make woman superior to men. Woman have many biological differences to men. The most notable difference is the fact that woman have different sexual organs than men, and their breasts are different too. Men have thought that this is what makes them superior to women, but Grande says otherwise. Grande believes that the female body is beautiful, and that woman can actually use their body to gain some power over men. You can tell that Grande believes that the female body is beautiful due to the constant vaginal imagery. When I say vaginal imagery I’m not exaggerating either. Grande shows herself constantly in the video almost naked laying in the center of what appears to be a painting of a diagram of a vagina. Grande constantly shows this to let her female viewers know that they shouldn’t be ashamed of the fact that they have vaginas, and that the female body is a beautiful thing that deserves to be celebrated. Grande believes that woman can use their biology to gain power over men as well. This is shown through the chorus of the song where Grande says, “You, you love it how I move you. You love it how I touch you. My one, when all is said and done you’ll believe God is a woman.” (Grande). By this Grande is showing that by the female biology being different than the male biology they are able to offer males something called sexual inter course. What Grande is saying is that since woman have to consent to this intercourse they are able to assert some power in that way as well. This is most clearly shown when Grande shows an image of her laying on a bed, and multiple men under the bed trying to get to her that can’t seem to get to her. These men all clearly have sexual desire for Grande in this video.   However, by Grande not consenting she is asserting her power as a woman to only have sexual intercourse of her own free-will.

Overall, I think Grande does a good job in displaying feminist themes in her song as well as her video even though her video isn’t the cleanest video at times.

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