Rebecca fears Beyonce is doing more harm than good as a role model for young women

Beyoncé recently performed on-stage in front of a huge light display spelling out FEMINIST. Presumably, the word was supposed to define Beyoncé, her song, or her dance.

Beyoncé has always been marketed as a strong female role model, a feminist, a survivor-extraordinaire.

Her miraculous survival feat? She isn’t skinny and she earns her own diamonds. So far as I can see, these are the sole reasons we call her a role model for 21st-century females.

And by the way, she is’ pretty skinny, by non-famous-person standards. However, she’s applauded for daring – yes, daring – to wear bum-skimming skirts while sporting woman-shaped thighs. Good one, Bey. That’ll show ’em.

Strangely, in recent months she’s been accused of Photoshopping her own instagram images. Tell-tale curving can be seen on photos around her thigh area – in one picture a wine glass had mysteriously turned concave in close proximity to her derriere.

Only women who have similarly tried to use the “cosmetic surgery” tool on some photo editing software will understand what I’m talking about. (Yes, I tried it once, lost patience after two seconds, and decided my slightly larger than I’d like butt could stay slightly larger than I’d like.) So yes, that’s a great role model for young girls: be skinny. But if you really can’t be skinny in real-life, at least pretend to be skinny in your online life.

Soon, women will be terrified to step outside lest somebody sees them without their Photoshop on.

Anyone who’s seen Beyoncé’s Drunk in Love video will know that here is a woman who doesn’t truly care about the standard she’s setting for young women: in the video Beyoncé parades herself in a bikini, arching her back and purring for the camera all the while aggressively shouting at the camera about how she’s the baddest bitch thus far. Baddest in this sense, seems to mean good (if a little bit dirty) in the bedroom, as she pouts and mimes in an attempt to presumably show us how and why she’s earned that dubious title.

Her husband, Jay-Z, appears beside her and the two of them then proceed to rap, sing, and stumble through comments about how amazing their sex lives are, and how drunk they get (although at one point it’s pretty obvious by her actions that it’s not only alcohol they get happy on).

Beyoncé’s heavily deluded if she actually believes she’s promoting a healthy image for young girls: as she rubs up and down against her husband.

He raps about how great they are together but the heavy implication is that he’s great, and together he makes them both great.

The idea that woman have to be the “baddest bitch” – and I’ll let your imagination conjure up what kinds of acts are lauded with this coveted title – doesn’t promote sexual freedom – it is telling young women what is required of them in order for them to be considered “great”. It’s a gift for those not interested in women’s equality and freedom – and especially those who like to sleep with copious amounts of young females.

Make women think that they are free to be “bad”, and then they’ll grow up thinking it’s good and symbolic of their freedom that they can sleep with every guy around – in the “baddest” way possible.

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