I’m going to be honest here and admit that I have no idea who Nicki Minaj is — I’ve heard the name, but I don’t know her music. But this video, which is quite old, makes me love her dearly. Also, why can’t I have pink hair?
I’m a human beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeingggg
“When I am assertive, I am a bitch. When a man is assertive, he’s a boss. He bossed up. No negative connotation behind bossed up, but lots of negative connotation behind being a bitch.”
And she goes on to talk about Trump versus Martha Stewart.
Also, I can’t hear the word boss without also thinking of this completely unrelated music video.
Ashley's co-blogger is a third year student at Northwestern University who runs on coffee and snark. . At some point, she'd like to make people sit on couches and tell her about their feelings, but right now she writes in different places around the internet and makes silly faces when she doesn't know what to say. She's the president of her local Secular Student Alliance affiliate, and she is on the Secular Woman speakers bureau. Opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Secular Student Alliance
3 comments
interrobang
July 13, 2012 at 11:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You too could have pink hair just like Nikki Minaj’s if you were willing to shell out for it — it’s a wig. Alternatively, why can’t you have pink hair?
I’m a technical writer who has worked at various IT companies over the years, and I’ve had bits of my hair blue off and on for 10 years now. Then again, I’m in Canada, and even in this Republicanoid town, it’s a lot more normal to have odd-coloured hair than it is in some places in the US. (I was recently in Orange County, California, and saw no one with odd-coloured hair, which I thought was weird, actually.)
Celeste
July 13, 2012 at 1:50 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Don’t use this footage. It’s just gonna make me look stupid.” I think that was the only thing she said that was wrong. I’m with you, I have no idea who she is or what her music is like, but she nailed this issue and I fully respect her for it.
Jazzpirate
July 13, 2012 at 4:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t know… it sort of sounds like a version of the old saying “If a man sleeps around he’s the man, if a woman does it she’s a hore” – yeah, there’s a double standard among most people. However, I have the feeling that it’s mostly used to justify certain unwise behaviours – like getting wasted and fucking the next best thing that comes around, which I wouldn’t approve of regardless of gender.
To me, there’s a big difference between being assertive and being a bitch – and I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to use the term “bossing up” when reffering to an assertive woman, if deserved.
But – to come to my actual point – I’m pretty sure, that Nicki Minaj falls into the category of those women who seem to be proud of bitchy behaviour because they don’t understand the difference between being assertive (because you know what you’re doing) and being a bitch (because you have to get your way, regardless of how stupid it is).
Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know much about her. But to me, being a bitch, being assertive and bossing up are three completely different things, and connotating the three with each other probably results more in justifying stupid behaviour than in rightly recognizing strong and positive behaviour as such.
Does that make sense…? I feel I’m not quite able to express clearly what I think…