girls chase boys: gender bending courtesy of ingrid michaelson
Image: YouTube Screenshot
Ingrid Michaelson’s latest single started out as a break-up song, but eventually evolved into something much more.
Instead of a fresh and quirky track outlining a typical courtship, ‘Girls Chase Boys’ is a fresh and quirky track outlining gender stereotypes.
I love this video clip so much, and whether you like it or not, I’m now going to tell you exactly why.
1. First, EQUALITY. The men dressed in drag, are not any more or less jarring/sexual/provocative than the women in tight clothes and heavy makeup. Instead of creating a gender divide, Michaelson blurs it, presenting both men and women as sexualised objects.
2. Adding to this point about equality, let’s note that the backup dancers are of MIXED RACES. Wahoo! Racial diversity is rarely done well, and this was proven quite recently by the backlash over Lily Allen’s ‘Hard Out Here’ video clip. What was intended to be a clever and relevant critique of sexism came under fire, with many disappointed by the sexually charged movements performed by the black female dancers.
3. But back to ‘Girls Chase Boys’. Both the message and video are CLEAR, FUN and IMPORTANT. This is more than can be said for a lot of pop music at the moment (hello, Pitbull and your ridiculously disgusting lyrics).
4. Lastly, whilst it is obvious that quite a few heavy concepts are explored through the lyrics and video clip, the end result still manages to feel EMPOWERING and just plain-ol’ fun.
So ‘Girls Chase Boys’ is pretty rad. But just in case you need further convincing, here is Ingrid’s own reflection, which she posted on her Facebook page:
‘Girls Chase Boys started out as a break up song but took on a deeper meaning as I continued writing. More than just being about my experience, its focus shifted to include the idea that, no matter who or how we love, we are all the same.
The video takes that idea one step further and attempts to turn stereotypical gender roles on their head. Girls don’t exclusively chase boys. We all know this. We all chase each other and in the end we are all chasing after the same thing: love. I hope you enjoy it! AHHH!’
This post first appeared on Alice’s blog.
What do you think? Do you agree with Alice’s take on ‘Girls Chase Boys’?
