Reading:
- Shana Goldin-Perschbacher (2008) “’The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams’” Meshell NdegéOcello and Black Female Masculinity,” from Sexuality, Listening, and Intimacy: Gender Transgression in Popular Music, 1993-2008, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Virginia
Viewing:
- MeShell NdegéOcello "Boyfriend" and "Pocketbook" videos above
Listening:
- NdegéOcello tracks on Blackboard
Posting can be on one or both of videos, or one or more of the audio tracks.
10 comments:
Discussion Question:
Since “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night)” deals mostly with NgedéOcello’s ability to attract men, did she choose to show women and not men in the video to reaffirm her bisexuality in the video?
Artifact Discussion:
The videos of “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night”) and the “Pocketbook” Remix demonstrated both MeShell NgedéOcello’s bisexuality and her ability to emphasize one sexual orientation (straight or gay) over the other in each of the two videos. It seemed clear to me after watching these two videos that “NgedéOcello challenges Black Nationalist homophobia with her performances of her own bisexuality” (Goldin-Perschbacher 69).
First, in “If That’s Your Boyfriend” NgedéOcello demonstrates masculinity and femininity in two different ways, but she emphasizes a heterosexual tendency in that performance. Her voice is masculine – a deep, sometimes “rough” voice – and she dons a guitar, which is an obvious phallic symbol, as part of her performance attire. On the other hand, she is able to pull off femininity through what she sings: the lyrics of her song are very feminine, and the best way to prove that is to imagine a different female singer (who is heterosexual) singing the song instead of MeShell. Through the lyrics, especially the “combined young girl and aggressive woman taunts”, NgedéOcello “presents herself as more physically attractive and better in bed than the girlfriend” and indirectly challenges the other heterosexual women in the music video (Goldin-Perschbacher 75, 81). Therefore, even though she is clearly bisexual, NgedéOcello is able to present herself as a dominating straight woman capable of stealing men.
Also, in the “Pocketbook” Remix, NgedéOcello appears more homosexual, surrounded by several women wearing the “Buy My Record” outfit (referred to as “video hoes” in the Goldin-Perschbacher article) dancing around her, as if she were an alpha male. The video shows several straight couples dancing together, but a more closer viewing of the video will demonstrate that most of the people shown in the video are women, which emphasizes the point that “there are none of the possessive men usually surrounding such dancing women in rap videos” (Goldin-Perschbacher 82). NgedéOcello’s homosexuality prevails in the video, as she is much more masculine in the way she dresses and uses her voice than the other women.
Question: It seems like from the quotations from the article of Ndegeocello point to her music being more about the black community and that community’s inherent social problems. Why should we then focus on he sexuality rather than the work and social progress she is trying to accomplish with her music?
Artifact discussion:
The video for “If That’s Your Boyfriend” and the song “Soul on Ice” are particularly interesting to look at both musically and how hey are presented. “Soul on Ice” starts with Ndegeocello basically speaking to the audience with a funk/soul guitar beat in the background. This juxtaposition between speech and rhythm help give Ndegeocello an edge and a different platform in which her music can speak to the audience. Since she is so different from many genres and mainstream artists, her ability to allow others to hear what she has to say is apparent. In “Soul on Ice” Ndegeocello actually has an extremely deep voice which could have passed for a middle-ranged man. This interesting use of androgyny and slight masculinity (at least in the voice) make Nedgeocello this kind of spirit force that is neither masculine nor feminine, but just Ndegeocello
This idea of masculine and feminine ambiguity was further explored in the video for “If That’s Your Boyfriend.” Ndegeocello was singing about something inherently heterosexuality. More specifically, she was the “other woman” that the women on the montage were visually disturbed about. Her choice of wardrobe for this particular video was actually very important in creating the gender ambiguity that I believe she was going for. The wife-beater, trousers, and bulging biceps were extremely contrasted with her bright lipstick and delicate facial features. I believe that Ndegeocello purposefully tries to make her gender ambiguous so that the focus can be on the subject content and music itself, rather than her appearance and mannerisms. However, in not conforming to social norms, Ndegeocello is actually bringing more attention to the very thing that she did not want the spotlight on.
Question:
I’m struggling with the idea of “gendery.” Is it acting in the stereotypical fashion of a particular gender group?
Artifact Discussion:
The song “boyfriend” is imposing from its opening. The person screaming “hey” does it in a startling fashion. The song then slows downs for a few measures. This contrast seems to foreshadow the explosion of noise that is about to occur at 0:13. After 0:13 the song bounces around in a busily. It has so many noises, specifically varying bass and drum lines. The article suggests that NgedeOcello avoids the Lil Kim style of MCing, but some aspects of her style are similar to it. NgedeOcello seems to come on the track just as “hard” if not harder than Lil Kim. The first lyric is pronounced aggressively and goes straight to the point. NgedeOcello has and will steal your boyfriend. What separates NgedeOcello from Kim in my mind, is the chorus. NgedeOcello shows that she can take on multiple different roles of femininity. She lets the listener know that her “butchness in no way limits her from interesting relationships with men” by singing the chorus in a soft airy voice. The airy voice contrasts the hard pronunciation in the rap portion of the song. Thus she takes on both the roles of butch and femme (if not more) in one song. From my experience with Lil Kim, I believe that this song adds a dimension of depth that Lil Kim’s aggressive personality does not have. I completely agree with the article when listening to this song. NgedeOcello is playful in her playing with gender stereotypes and is separate from Lil Kim. What I don’t understand is what the article perceives is Lil Kim’s message.
How is NdegeOcello simultaneously attracted to yet indifferent towards both genders in the videos posted on blackboard?
In the two music videos, NdegeOcello establishes herself as a bisexual who appreciates both genders. However, in both videos the artist is also indifferent to both genders. In the first video, “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night),” NdegeOcello brags to women about how their boyfriends prefer her, probably because of her bisexuality that implies (rightly or wrongly) a willingness to sexually experiment. However, she also claims that once the sex is done, she acts like she doesn’t wish to know her male partner. In the second video, groups of women dance sensually around NdegeOcello and she refuses to acknowledge them, almost establishing herself as superior to these hyper-feminized women and aligning herself with hip-hop/rap artists such as Jay-Z and Lil Wayne who feature throngs of women in their music videos. Perhaps NdegeOcello establishes herself as a masculine female in her indifference towards both genders. Taking on the tough, masculine façade of many rap artists, NdegeOcello literally becomes “one of the boys” in spite of her bisexuality which at times makes her hetero-normative. Even in her hetero-normative relationships with men, she refuses to be feminized by being “soft” and compassionate towards her lovers after the sexual act.
In a different reading of the second video, one could conclude that Meshell NdegeOcello is crtitiquing the rap/hip hope music industry by using scantily-clad women throughout her video. Specifically, the women wearing the “Buy my record” outfit seem to parody and poke fun at the way male hip hope artists tend to use women in skimpy outfits to promote their albums.
Question: It was interesting that in the first video posted (If that’s your boyfriend) MeShell NdegéOcello doesn’t glorify femininity by glorifying connotatively feminine characteristics, but rather by shaming and defaming them. How effective was this in “emptying masculinity of its sexism”, if at all? At inspiring people (women especially) to be powerful? How different is this from other approaches to this end? Was she doing more self-expression or making a statement?
Artifact discussion:
There were certainly elements of both videos in which it was obvious that MeShell NdegéOcello was embodying what is usually associated with a masculine persona—the girls who were dancing around her as she sat, relaxed, slouched, leaned back and confident in a chair; her mixture of talking/ singing and her rap style that spoke much of a poetic challenge; her clothes, her shaved head; her command of space and indifference to things women are usually associated with being concerned about…however she did so without completely eradicating all signs of femininity—for example, she still wore lipstick, and she was adorned with earrings, a nose ring, a necklace—so there was still the attention to fashion and an emphasis on appearance. The reconciliation came in the form of dark lips, of wife beaters, of baggy pants, non-showy earrings, that again reinforced the fluidity that NdegeOcello maintained throughout her performance. Keeping elements of both genders was essential to the impact of the first video, which I will focus on because it enabled her to stretch the definition of woman to be more inclusive of things normally associated with men. I asked in a previous post about how certain masculine / feminine traits might be adapted by the opposite gender in healthy/ beneficial ways, and from her performance—the joy and carefree mentality she associates with being indifferent, frankly honest and confident (more masculine characteristics), she portrays as essential to a woman’s sense of self.
The collaboration of talking (versus) music, venting/complaining (versus) boasting, speaking a litany (versus) “singing” a victory, sets up a stark contrast between her and the other women in the first video. She embodies strength, having an upper hand, calling the shots making the decisions even in male-female relationships, and at first, seems to be mocking the women, every “miss thang” who is in “his [a man’s] lap”. The concepts are called out one by one—jealousy, love, drama, insecurity, grace, the focus on relationships, attachment, marriage—that women pride in and are “socialized” to pride in. But I don’t think that she is completely criticizing these things, as they are not all inherently negative—rather it seems that she is questioning them and questioning the priority they have in women’s lives, the power they have in influencing the decisions that women make while perhaps men aren’t governed by these things. By incorporating male qualities into her performance saying she can do without attachment, that she can have it all and put herself first and still be happy seems to quake the notion that a woman’s happiness is inextricably tied with the success of her relationships/ her ability to please others; it does not suggest an isolation (no relationships), but sort of glorifies masculine characteristics as a means to a self-security that men often exude and women seem to forego. Whether this sense of security is completely real or a façade, may be something to be questioned when displayed, but the way in which NdegeOcello portrays a mixture of masculinity and femininity results in her character in the video being the woman who seemed secure at the expense of the “weaknesses” the other women worried about.
Question:
Is Me’Shelle Ndegeocello doing more for allowing gender to be a continuum, or is it only strengthening the view that gender should indeed be 2 separate, distinct entities to avoid such eccentricities as this, if this is indeed viewed negatively by society?
Artifact Discussion
In the first video posted on the blog site, “If That’s Your Boyfriend,” Me’Shelle Ndegeocello emphasizes her ability to attract men. She is positively asserting her feminity and ability, as a woman, to seduce and/or attract men. Thus, the overall theme of the song (at least of the lyrics) is certainly heterosexual. However, obvious discrepancies emerge in the video. For instance, Me’Shelle Ndegeocello has a rather low, deep voice that can at times seem quite manly. Secondly, the way she was dressed gave her a manly appearance. The bald head, manly tank top showing off her muscular arms, and the baggy trouser pants all point strongly to a masculine appearance. This makes her intended gender very ambiguous. Is she wanting the audience to see her as a manly, yet straight, female? Or does the performance point to bisexuality? Or maybe even something other than those two?
I found it rather interesting that the other women in this video seemed distressed about Me’Shelle. Usually, the “other woman” when a man cheats on his girlfriend is stereotypically thought of as a sexual object, very feminine, etc. Instead, we see Ndegeocello, who has a masculine appearance and voice. She definitely isn’t the type of woman who would be thought of as the cause of cheating in a relationship. Perhaps this is what the performance is aiming at: creating ambiguity as to what is desirable. I just wonder whether this improves the concept of shaping society’s views of gender as a continuum that can have many intermediate values, or if, on the other hand, Me’Shelle’s performance is counterproductive in this regard. Another question to ask, then, would be is that even her purpose, or is she just being self-expressive?
Question: I think Me'Shell Ndegeocello was very creative with her music and how she uses both her masculinity and femininity to attract men. Do you think her performance as a man is convincing even though she where lipstick and has the physical features of a woman? I found that she is more masculine that some men despite her looking like a female.
Discussion:
In the video, “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night”), MeShell NgedéOcello showed her ability to attract both men and women. Her physical and vocal presence shows both her femininity and masculinity. In the Goldin article it talks about both challenging black homophobia and heterosexuality. In the video she does both. She challenges the girlfriends in the video in a way that she is more attractive than them even with the shaved head and masculine attitude. I think at first glance she is a straight black women capable of getting any man she wants. As I continued to watch the video I pictured her singing this song as a man and I feel like it was equally believable. Because NgedéOcello is able to portray both a black man and woman her presence in this video is magnified and she become equally attractive to both men and women.
Question:
I can understand why feminists took MeShell in as one of their own. MeShell very clearly combines aspects of both the male and female gender. However, how does the queer community view her? Though a member of a community that advocates the recognition of multiplicity within the terms “sex” and “gender,” MeShell seems to only be emphasizing the socially constructed binary of male/female. Rather than presenting some other third gender, she is very consciously drawing aspects only from the norm.
Artifact Discussion:
I enjoyed the two videos by MeShell. The first one is interesting, as it talks about a man who cheated from the mistress’s perspective, but it also has interviews with women who were cheated on (or who are unhappy with their romantic lives) playing over the music. This is very powerful, as it places emphasis on the victim of the adulterous act. It shows that infidelity can go beyond just a passable betrayal: it can actually devastate a woman and make her doubt everything about herself. What is interesting about this, though, is that the video is in black and white, which contrasts with the message a little bit. It seems like the reactions from the women are all different (not to mention the women themselves are very different from one another); this issue is colorful, not simplistic and black&white. However, artistically, black&white adds power and severity to any piece, so perhaps that was the reason for the color choice.
The second video was a bit different from the first. There was color in this one; MeShell looked closer to the male gender than the female one; and both men and women appeared in the video. The message is also quite different, as I think this video, rather than empowering women in some way like the first one, reinforces stereotypes that already exist. For example, there are women all over this video dressed in revealing outfits, dancing seductively. The camera zooms in multiple times on different women’s chests and hips, and, aside from MeShell, every woman in the video is hyper-femme. It is true that the center of it all is not a man, as it is in most rap videos; however, it is someone performing the male gender. Just because MeShell may not have a penis, she is still playing the role of the male rapper in the center of the attractive female dancers. This might make the argument that a female can have power over other females as well; however, it does so poorly, as MeShell feels the need to take on the male gender to have this power, rather than attaining it under the female gender.
Question:
Are independence and self-reliance really masculine characteristics? Can't you still be ultra-feminine and have those characteristics?
Discussion:
Part of what made NdegéOcello's androgyny readily visible was how distinct she was from the other women in the music video to "Boyfriend." The first thing to strike me was her appearance. She was bald; the other women at least had hair, even if their haircuts looked boyish. But more importantly, what she was saying was so different from what the other women were saying.
The other women seemed like they were really dependent on having sexual relationships with men in a way that NdegéOcello was not. I think women are often portrayed this way in popular culture - that they're shown as obsessed with romance, clingy, and needy. Think Sex and the City, Ally McBeal, every Disney movie ever, etc. (Women are probably sold a bill of goods where they're told that they need a man to be there to protect them and be their knight in shining armor. I don't think men are told they need a woman to be happy; they might be told that having an attractive woman will make them seem more "manly." Or something like that.) I'm generalizing to be concise...I know it's really more complicated than that.
I think women are told that their lives are only significant when they're significant to other people. One woman in the video said, "Suicide is not an option once you have a child." What does that mean? 'My life wasn't invaluable when I was living for myself. Now that someone else's life is my responsibility, my existence is finally necessary.' That's kind of what I read it as.
Anyway, contrary to the other women in the video who played into this stereotype, NdegéOcello seemed very much like she was "owning" herself as an individual and as an individual who forms relationships with other people, much like Goldin Perschbacher suggested (79).
Question:
I found this sentence from the article very interesting and perhaps a bit extremist: "black women's gender is read as masculine in relation to the white standard of femininity." Do you agree with this? If so, where does that put Me'shelle NdegeOcello on the masculine spectrum with respect to the rest of African American women?
Artifact Discussion:
"If That's Your Boyfriend" is a very interesting song and music video. It summarizes a lot about Me'Shelle NdegeOcello and what the article discussed about her. She portrays herself in the video as hyper masculine in a variety of ways. Firstly, consider her own image presented. She is dressed in a wife beater and suspenders. She also has a shaved head. Furthermore, I would say that her movements add to her masculinity. The way that she strums her guitar accentuates her muscular arms. One final aspect I would note of her presented image is her voice. It is very deep and low. If I had heard this song without seeing the music video, I definitely would have thought that it was a man singing.
Her masculinity is also further represented in the video by the other women she chooses to talk about their relationship issues. The way that they are all emotionally broken contrasts with NdegeOcello's masculine expressions. She is rubbing it in their faces that she slept with their boyfriends and does not have a bit of remorse for it. It is almost as if she is taunting them in their state of hurt, which is more typically gendered with masculinity.
Lastly, it is also interesting to see the different ways in which she "defies categorizations" as Goldin-Perschbacher points out. For example, even through all of her masculinities that she presents, she decides to wear a very dark and visible lipstick. The only explanation that I can give for this is that she is trying to blur the gender lines. Race ambiguity also comes into play. It is interesting that she chooses both black and white women in her video. If you assume that their boyfriends are the same race as them, which I believe NdegeOcello wants you to, then she is implying that she slept with both white and black men. Thus, while she presents herself as highly masculine, she also makes several points to show that she defies categorization.
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