I am Woman

On Thursday in class we took a look at the early role of women in music. We learned about how in the 50s and early 60s women could only really perform in groups or maybe be solo country artists. Or how they would sing about hoping that they would be able to keep their man.  But that all started to change in the mid to late 60s when the second wave of the feminist movement started to take place. There was a very influential book that came out in 1963 called the “Feminine Mystique” came out and explained how woman do not and should not be confined to the stereotypes of being a caretaker for children, cooking and cleaning and and pleasing men. Women started to break out on their own and started singing about other topics besides trying to keep their men. Instead women were now singing about anything they damn well felt like singing about. A couple examples would be Joni Mitchell singing about how she had a baby as a teen and having to give it away and how she was sad about having to do that but it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Or Janis Joplin singing about love but not in your typical way instead of talking about how in love with a man she is. Instead she sings about how being in a relationship can feel like you have a ball and chain attached to your foot, and how it can weigh you down. The best example of the second wave of the feminist movement in music has to be the song “I am Woman” by Helen Reddy. The song talks about how women as a whole have been viewed in the wrong light for far too long and they are back to fight for their rights. It talks about how strong women are and no matter how many times they are knocked down they will get right back up again. The hook of the song is “I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman.” which is just incredible because it's so empowering for all women to know that they are strong already just having to deal with all of the things that come with a woman.