At the intersection of pop culture and academia, worlds (and world views) collide. A discussion on Nature Publishing Group’s Women in Science forum — where AAUW regularly shares research findings — has highlighted this collision. Over the last few months, pop star Beyoncé Knowles released her song “Run the World (Girls),” video blogger NineteenPercent’s critique of the song went viral, and the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University published a fact sheet to support NineteenPercent’s position.
Beyoncé’s song depicts girls as more powerful than men. “Who runs the world? Girls,” she sings. NineteenPercent’s post argues that such a claim is both ridiculous and dangerous, and the Clayman Institute provides a statistical context for the entire exchange that suggests that women have a long way to go before achieving real power. And millions of people are engaging with these materials. Beyoncé’s music video has 60 million views so far. NineteenPercent’s video has about 456,000. That’s quite a crowd.
So who has it right? Is it more important to create representations of girl power regardless of their accuracy to encourage confidence in girls, or is it more important to broadcast the dire inequities still affecting women and girls?
What do you think?
What I find most inspiring here is NineteenPercent herself. There are plenty of circles in which viewers would have nothing but derogatory things to say about this bright and witty critic, but in risking the vitriol, I think that she’s a courageous model of contemporary girl/woman power.
AAUW Dialog 
Aren’t there plenty of true examples of Girl/Woman Power that could be shared in the context of the inequities that continue to exist? It seems like that might be a way to get out the word in a way that is both inspiring and realistic.