The American singer Beyoncé included in her song
“Flawless” a sample from a speech given by the Nigerian
writer Chimamanda Adichie entitled “We Should All Be
Feminists”. Read the sample from the song and answer
the following activity.
We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves
smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not
too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too
successful. Otherwise, you will threaten the man.
Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to
marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always
keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now
marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual
support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage
and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see
each other as competitors not for jobs or
accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but
for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot
be sexual beings in the way that boys are. Feminist: the
person who believes in the social, political and economic
equality of the sexes.
(Excerpt from Flawless, by Beyoncé featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Complete lyrics
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