The Beyonce Syndrome Re-Vamped 2014

By Monique Gaines

So disclaimer again my grammar sucks I majored in Bio bear with me but if your unclear on in thing let me know I'll change it or answer your question. 

So I know I'm like 2 years late but I recently read this article called The Beyonce Syndrome: The Impact of Pop Culture on Young Women of Color by Brian E. No I'm not a Beyonce fan because I never felt like I could relate to her, growing up my favorite singer was Aaliyah because she was a tomboy and relatable. She taught me that you can be a tomboy but still be a girly girl which I thought was cool, Beyonce was/is strictly heels and dresses. But I do listen to her music and no she's not my favorite artist because I like R&B soul more than I like pop music. However I do feel like people are to harsh with there words when it comes to celebrities. The author of this article (http://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2012/01/beyonce-syndrome-impact-of-pop-culture.html) feels that Beyonce influences women to date thugs/gangbangers. He also believes that the majority of African American women don't appreciate hard working African American men. Okay well maybe Beyonce and Jay-Z did send a subliminal message that thugs were the way but I'm quite sure this message was in the African American community way before the union of these two I'm mean have you see New Jack City. My problem with this article and a lot of things that African American men say about women is that they forget when they point the finger their also pointing a finger at themselves. I believe that there are a lot of African American women who are educated and want to find a hardworking African American man who does take care of the household. But you have to see that just like you think African American women are overlooking the BMW (Black Man Working), men also overlook the nice African American women and rather be with a hoe. (And yea you can turn a hoe into an housewife Kanye's doing it)

Before I get into the African American issue though I do have to stand up for Beyonce. (like I said I probably dislike her music as much as the author but at the same time I feel like shes human just like all of us and you shouldn't talk about people life in that way) Don't get me wrong I do see something wrong with African American community, and I agree we do need a lot of help and restoration. However issue are not colorblind. I think that white people (along with other races) do the same things that we do it just that the things we do get exploited and our flaws get pointed out more than white peoples. That doesn't mean two wrongs make a right and I think that's even more reason for us to be on our p&q's so people can't say anything about us. Beyonce may not be a good role model for girls to you but she is on her p&q's how many scandals do you hear about Beyonce? But Britney Spears did all of those crazy things when she was young and it was chalked up to her being young. People forgave her for what she did so much so you don't really hear about her past. Since Beyonce is African American if she thought about doing what she did it would still be brought up to this day. As I said before Jay-Z and Beyonce are not my favorite artist (I prefer Nas and Jhene and other artist but this ain't about my favorite music) and I understand that they are celebrities and they probably have thick skin but I don't think it gives us any right to attack someone's marriage (especially since a lot of us aren't married talking about things we know nothing about). At the end of the day it will be chalk up to people opinion but why she married him is his&her's business. Beyonce didn't marry a thug/drug dealer, she married a former thug/drug dealer. Jay-Z has a past just like all of us who are we to judge, and there's no way I would let someone tell me I'm the same person I was when I was a freshman because I'm not. People see him as a former drug dealer but in the present his a business man who works hard to support his family. And unless your walking in someone shoes you can never know why they did what they did, not saying that its right to sell drugs (and you know why do people see a problem with drug dealers when America is the biggest dealer of them all....different article). If Jay-Z is such a thug then he wouldn't be where he is today he would still be in Marcy projects. Obviously he knew that drug dealing wasn't a way of life he used rapping as a outlet to get something off his chest and as a means to something better with his life. An my last point about Jay and Bey is they are human they have feelings. Like I said I know celebrities must have thick skin but geez give them a break. They said she wasn’t pregnant, like that alone could make a women have a miscarriage from stress and being upset. Or like saying she married a bad boy/thug. Did it ever occur to anyone that she married him because she didn't think she would be able to find real love? After all she is very successful with a lot of money, Jay-Z probably has the same amount or even more. Maybe she just wanted someone to see her as Beyonce and not be with her for the fame.

But enough about them. I have to defend African American women like myself. In the article the author Brian E believes that women are brainwashed by Beyonce to like thugs/Bad boys/drug-dealers and that nice African American men who pay bills and do what they are suppose to do are overlooked or walked all over. I'm not going to disagree with you (although I'm an African American women that would love that man but I'm young so that's not going to happen anytime soon seeing that guys are chasing after careers and money and a hoe or 2 not their wife) I'll agree and say your right I think in the African American community women confuse a man who knows how to lead with a man who is controlling and abusive. But I also believe that African American men walk over their women too. I can say this because I would be the version of the nice girl/women. The women who gets overlooked by thugs, boys, educated, sophisticated, intelligent African American men because they prefer a half naked hoe/bitch over an educated and focus African American women. Nice girls/women are not what guys want to date. Men like to take advantage of women who treat them good and stand behind them (or be submissive -ie the bible type submissive not that 50 shades of gray submissive) They take this rather have a ratchet loud I'll bust the windows out your car baby momma instead of a good women. But I'm not going to point the finger I've learned that it's a viscous cycle that I try not to get caught up in. But that doesn't mean I give up on African American men it means I pray and stay with them. That does not mean I stay with a man that abuse, controls or cheats on me but it does mean I have to understand that the African American man hurts and I stand behind them 100%. The reason why I stick behind them is because they need a strong support system and who better to do that than us. We lose our men to drugs, jail, death and no my all time favorite white women. In the article Brian E. says “I noticed the differences between Black American women/girls and others early on. I cannot count how many times I was seen as a cornball in school because I actually wanted to do the work. I was too young to understand why that was happening at the time (middle school). My first dance (in middle school) was with a white girl......This is why I can’t see myself dating a Black woman.” I don't know this man not sure if he is black and I'm not sure if he was adopted or not but your first impression of a black women was in school? Not your mom or grandma? And if so do you feel the same way about them? Not to mention he says something about his first dance in middle school was a white girl(he also says interracial dating is now walk in the park...but then again he can't see himself dating a black women??? contradiction much) but white women aren't perfect. Kim K had a sex tape and she's with Kanye (she middle eastern but I think most people see her as white, at least I do). And there are a host of other women who are celebrities from other races that like to date bad boys and take advantage of nice men. (don't feel like listing them all) And wait you mean to tell me that white women aren't dating black guys because they have a bad boy image? (Are they influenced by Beyonce too because I think it's just preference) Did you read Ralph Ellison's invisible man, the white women fantasize about a black man raping her hmmmmm I wonder why? (You know Beyonce wasn't out then but then again she probably came to him in a dream and influenced him too) Anyway I digressed but I say this to say that I don't think the whole bad boy/thug thing is a black thing (or the Bey bug) I think its a people thing. Believe it or not people like people who hurt them. (ie viscous cycle)