Flawless Feminism: A Womanist Perspective

Last year when Beyoncé released that snippet (that was called “Bow Down” at the time) of what is now a part of one of her self-titled album's signature songs “***Flawless,” it created a stir because she uses the word “bitch.” Even I myself thought about it then in more simplistic terms where it is “sexist” no matter what though I still rode so hard to that track, loved her airy background vocals that made me think of Amy Lee of Evanescence, loved that exquisite bass and vibe of authentic trap music that made me think of hanging out in parking lots after step shows, band shows and Black talent shows and just loved the raw aggression that Beyoncé conveyed. And this isn't new for her. People used to her songs only via the radio or focused on her moments of glamour which are plentiful might miss the fact that she has several songs with Jay Z in the last decade and some of her own where she gets incredibly gritty, revealing a mixture of her perceived softness with simply being an unashamed Black girl from Houston, who is now a grown woman.

Since that snippet came out and long before the album did, I thought about the word “bitch” with context. Both “bitch” and “nigga” are used among some Black people and we know what we mean when we use them and what kind of meaning is inferred; when it’s aggression and when it’s not. When it minimizes and when it does not. When we’re simply angry and not speaking how we normally speak. I don’t have the White supremacist thought process where Black people who subversively, affectionately or aggressively use “nigga” are equal to White racists and non-Black people of colour who are anti-Black who use “nigger” or the “ironic” White racists and cultural appropriators who use “nigga” and have structural power on their side and a different history of power with that word. I don’t have the thought process where I conflate “nigga” with “cracker” as the latter is not a racist slur. I don’t have the thought process where I treat “nigga” as