Her hips don't lie

When I think of feminist or feminism, images of strip clubs and pornographic videos do not come to mind, but according to Ariel Levy, these are forms of third wave feminism. In her book, Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, Levy analyzes women and feminists roles in today’s culture, though to me they seem as if they are the exact opposite of the things that feminists have been fighting for for three generations. In today’s pop-culture, it seems that a female musician cannot produce a music video or put on a performance without wear skimpy or raunchy clothes, more specifically, I’m talking about Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll or simply Shakira. Shakira is world famous and is known for a number of hit songs and he belly dancing, but in this article I want to look at Shakira’s more recent hit, “She wolf.”

In the song, Shakira sings about being the aggressor in a relationship or just a hook up where usually the man is the aggressor with some stereotypical pickup line. She goes on to express that she is staring at a man across the bar, really eyeing him up or as she says it, “Sitting across the bar, staring right at her prey it’s going well so far she’s gonna get her way.” These two lines of the song, to me, seem to be a very aggressive move, especially for a woman because if a man was staring so intent at a woman in this fashion it would come off as kind of creepy and rude. However, a feminist that is fighting for equality would just that if men can do it, then why can’t women, what is so different if a woman acts in this way? I can just think of a few responses from a couple different perspectives: the girl’s friend, “Eww, why are you looking at him like that?” or the man’s friend, “Man, that girl must really want the dick.” Why would this situation call for two such negative responses towards the advancing female? Yet a man making the same advances would most likely be met with positive responses from the same two individuals as listed above, something from the girl’s friend like, “Oh my god, that guy is totally checking you out” and the man’s friend would say something along the lines of “Get it.” Clearly in this example taken from the song, the female advance is a little more unusual and, I guess to me, would be a little surprising to see a woman act in this way. I’m and not sure why I see it this way, is it because I am just conforming to mainstream society and falling into the same mold as everyone else?

In the music video, Shakira is wearing some very form fitting and revealing attire, one outfit has a bikini cut bottom and another has sections missing form the midsection and a leg is missing. I don’t believe that I would ever see a woman walking around Colgate to go to class in this attire (in warmer weather of course) or even going out in the evenings with this type of style. What makes an artist want to prance around in this type of clothing for everyone to see? One possible reason is that she wants to show off her toned and fit body, that I am sure she has to work very hard for. Does she feel empowered as Levy talks about in her book or does she feel that she has to dress like this to entertain an audience. I think this song is targeted for young women, probably from teenagers to twenty year-olds if not older, but I would have to say that the music video is more appealing to young men or just men of all ages because I know myself that I would watch this video more than once but on the other, had I been looking at some rap video where men have their shirts off I probably wouldn’t be too into watching that. Do women feel the opposite, they want to watch men with their shirts off and shy away from women with skimpy clothing?

The next thing I would like to examine is Sharkira’s moves she does and a certain sound that she makes that reoccurs in several parts of the song. Now I understand that some of her dance moves come from a belly dancing background, however, in some parts of the video, especially in the parts that she is in a large cage, can hardly be called dance moves. When she is in the cage, Shakira is moving her body and putting herself in very sexual positions, maybe to signify her caged up sexual desires, but she is spreading her legs and contorting her body into what I can only image can be uncomfortable for her. Again with this part of the video, who or what is she appealing to, is she trying to appeal to men or simply just expressing her feelings? Another element of sex that can be heard in the video is when Shakira makes these panting sounds, I’m not sure if she is trying to pant like a wolf or if it could be related to some sexual theme.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the whole video is about her going out and having fun and maybe finding a man, but in the end she goes to bed with her apparent husband or boyfriend. I guess this could be similar to “the problem that has no name,” women wanting more than a life as a housewife, but it is set in modern times. What I am trying to get at is, is Shakira trying to express feelings or a desire to occasionally want to have an extramarital relationship that can be seen happening in recent events with Tiger Woods, some kind of promiscuity?

After all of this analysis of this song and the music video, I can’t help but realize that I am missing and cannot speak much on a woman’s perspective and how a woman would react. Maybe you all can help me to understand more about this song and enlighten me as to why an artist would perform this way because I have posed several questions that I do not know the answers to.

One more thing, here is the link to the website where I found the lyrics.