The Super Bowl halftime show elicits immediate reactions every single year, but with just a mere glance at my Twitter feed last night, I felt like this time it was on another level.
As clients started to pour into the fitness studio I work at this morning, their arguments about the show were so loud, I could no longer hear the music playing. That’s when I decided I had to change the idea I originally had for today’s blog post.
For some reason, two Latinas celebrating their cultures, their bodies, their careers, and their power, has people really fucking pissed.
“I thought it was really provocative.”
“We’re so about empowering women, but then you have someone dancing on a pole.”
“It’s supposed to be a family show.”
“Her daughter was literally right there.”
“She was basically crotchless.”
I have a really hard time hearing and seeing so many other (typically white) women shaming Shakira and Jennifer Lopez for being “too sexual and provocative”, or “not appropriate for their children”.
If that is the only thing you can see when you look at the amazing performance those two women put on, then I think we should instead look at how we as women can be part of the problem.
You can not say you are for women’s empowerment, but also bash women when their form of empowerment does not match your own.
The #MeToo movement is all about women taking back their power and exposing the wrongdoings of others. It’s about women doing things on their own terms and having a choice.
Objectification arises when a women does not have a say in what she is being told to do, or when she is being pressured to perform or look a certain way.
These strong, confident women chose every detail of their performance. They commanded power. They were in control.
The majority of our nation seems to think that women should not be able to wear certain things, or dance in certain ways, or expresses themselves however they see fit, because it is too “sexual”.
We seem to think that being in touch with ones sexuality and femininity is provocative, and does not merit respect.
Yet we don’t hold the same standard for men.
Maroon 5’s music isn’t exactly G-rated, and Adam Levine literally performed most of last year’s Super Bowl halftime show shirtless. And I don’t think we need to discuss the whole Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson situation again, do we?
Why are we sending this message, that women are just their bodies or their clothing. Why can’t we just let women look the way they want, and instead focus on all the amazing things they can do.
I am a small white girl, so this is completely from an outsiders perspective, but this was the first time a halftime show was headlined by two Latinas. At a time in our county when the Latinx community is being attacked by SO many people, including our own president, THAT is powerful.
Representation is powerful.
It doesn’t matter what these women were wearing in their performance, because it was inspiring. It was athletic. It was confident.
Yes, I wish J.Lo’s three, custom Versace looks were a part of my wardrobe, for days when my bedroom dance parties get super intense. And yes, I wish I could thank Shakira for teaching me at the age of nine that my hips don’t lie, and that I love to dance. But what I really want, is for all of us to focus on the larger message of their performance.
They made powerful and political statements, and they showed people that they can do hard things, and showed us all that we can too.
You might not be aware that J.Lo was in the movies Hustlers, where she had very little time to learn how to pole dance, and was also snubbed by the Oscars. You might also not be aware that pole dancing takes extreme athleticism and strength. So when I saw J.Lo holding herself up on that pole, all I could think about was how strong her core is, and how I need to Google, pole dancing classes, immediately.
It’s also important to note that Shakira’s performance was a tribute to her Lebanese and Columbian roots. She performed a whole Champeta dance sequence, that originated in her hometown of Barranquilla, Columbia. The noise she made while moving her tongue was actually an Arabic expression of joy an celebration called a zaghrouta, and not just a meme worthy moment. It was also interpreted by some as a reference to Carnaval de Barranquilla, which is held in her hometown.
Let’s also talk about how cool it was that J.Lo’s daughter, Emme, sang born in the USA, while J.Lo donned an American flag cape, with Puerto Rico’s flag on the inside. Talk about a statement.
The costumes and dances do not matter as much. They are vehicles of expression. Vehicles of expression that women should be free to use to empower themselves, and other women around them, however they choose to do so.
I would be proud to watch this show with my non-existent children, and teach them that that they can do whatever they want, all the while being themselves.
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira created careers from being confident, unapologetic, and true to themselves. The Super Bowl halftime show is not the time to be forced to change, nor is there ever a time to be forced to change.