WAP: a feminist anthem
On August 7th, 2020, the world of music was shaken up. “WAP,” a collaboration between Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion was released, unleashing a dissonance of excited fans and offended politicians. The song has already managed to break records by amassing 93 million streams in its first week. It has also earned a spot at number 1 on the Billboard 100 chart for the fourth consecutive week, and there has even been a viral Tik Tok dance for it. While it’s evident that the song is quite popular, it has also faced a lot of backlash for its lyrical content.
The song itself is quite catchy. It has a great beat and flow that gets the listener hooked. The first thing that a listener hears along with the beat is a sample from Frank Ski’s “Wh*res in This House,” a song released in 1993.
“WAP,” which stands for “Wet *ss P*ssy,” is already a dead giveaway of what the rest of the song may be about. Many people, however, were quite upset with the flagrant vulgarity of the song. One Republican activist named Deanna Lorraine tweeted her disgust regarding the song, “Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion just set the entire female gender back by 100 years with their disgusting and vile ‘WAP’ song.”
This is not the first time that a song with such a clear sexual message has been released. Missy Elliot faced similar backlash in 2001 for her song “Get Your Freak On.” Lil Kim also faced a lot of backlash from listeners for “How Many Licks?” in 2000. Even more recently Nicki Minaj’s 2014 hit “Anaconda” was met with many listeners complaining about the lyrical content.
Interestingly enough the song “Slob On My Knob” released by Juicy J in 1993 but made famous by Tear Da Club Up Thugs could be considered the male equivalent to WAP. The song is all about oral sex, yet it is regarded as an incredibly influential song in the Hip Hop/Rap genre as multiple artists have sampled it. Even the title of the song “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles is a sexual innuendo yet not a single complaint has arisen. This highlights a double standard where women are torn down for writing a song about their own sexual experiences and pleasures, while people don’t bat an eye when men talk about their sexual pleasures or even when their music blatantly objectifies women. Unfortunately, that is the societal norm.
The Colby Echo had the opportunity to sit down with Professor Sonja Thomas, who is an Associate Professor and the Program Director of the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at Colby. While she was not incredibly familiar with the song “WAP” itself, she was not surprised by the backlash it had received.
“When black women talk about their own sexuality, there is often backlash because women of color and especially black women are seen to be highly sexualized. So to even talk about it and not be a sexual object but to have agency over their own sexuality freaks a lot of people out.”
Despite all the controversy, it is clear that people’s love for the song is not going anywhere. When asked how people felt when they first heard the song, many people had a positive response.
Hailey Cerrato ’22 said:
“I felt empowered and inspired by the strong feminine presence in the song and the freedom of sexuality both Cardi B and Meg Thee Stallion displayed.”
“WAP” may not be the song that one listens to on the radio, but it certainly is empowering to many women and grants them confidence over their own sexual pleasures. So here’s to proudly singing and dancing along to the unforgettable tune and undeniable feminist anthem.
~ Tanvi Iyer `22
