Gender Observation: Gender and Sexuality in Lizzo’s Boys
This essay reflects on the presentation of masculinities and femininities, sexuality and gender expression in 'Boys' by Lizzo, from the 2019 album Cuz I Love You (Deluxe.) By analysing both lyrics and the accompanying music video, I will argue that the piece rejects anti-Black misandry, control of Black women's sexuality, and the idea of gender as fixed and immutable, by creating a post-structuralist space for self-expression.
The lyrics to 'Boys' focus mostly on men and masculinity, specifically in relation to Lizzo as the speaker. She begins the second verse 'big boys, itty bitty boys' and saying 'I like a big beard, I like a clean face' making reference to men at both ends of a spectrum of masculinity. Stereotypically masculine imagery, such as a 'big beard' or muscular physique is posed alongside more less hypermasculine features, like being slimmer and clean shaven, and neither is valued above the other. The lyrics give all masculinities equal value, rejecting the idea of some masculinities as hegemonic or subordinate. Though wider gender power structures are not discussed here, Lizzo challenges the idea that masculinities considered 'weaker' or 'more feminine' are less valuable, saying 'I don't discriminate.'
Visually, the portrayal of masculinities is rich. I will first discuss the presentation of Black men in the video, and go on to address the way Lizzo performs masculinity at times. One scene shows nine men's mouths side by side saying the word 'boys' in the chorus of the song. We see piercings, gold teeth, beards, and stubble. The men bite and lick their lips in a way that could be considered provocative, which I suggest is intended to invert the commodification of the female body in the media. While women are often sexualised, especially for marketing, this is reversed in 'Boys.' The 'male gaze' is reversed, to the extent that this is possible; the men become objects of Lizzo's 'female gaze'. By making herself the viewer rather than the viewee, Lizzo promotes herself from object to actor.
Further in the video, a group of young Black men stand with their arms folded, wearing hoodies and looking directly at the camera. This presentation is likely used to evoke associations with the image of the 'thug', so that this can be challenged. 'Thug' is used to 'describe Black males who reject or do not rise to the standard of White America,' and especially seems to be used to refer to young, working-class Black men, who are perceived as violent, dangerous and destructive. The demonization of this group of people, who are disproportionately vulnerable to violence, poverty and police brutality, is the result of anti-Black misandry. 'Ideas of Black men as dangerous, criminal, and rapists' are perpetuated by the assumption that all Black masculinity is toxic and harmful. This characterisation is challenged in 'Boys' when the same young men are shown dancing, laughing and smiling. By centring Black men's light-hearted happiness, Lizzo affirms the sentiment expressed by many Black activists and individuals, that 'it is an act of resistance to revel in the joy that they have spent so much of history trying to take away from us'.
The lyrics challenge masculine/feminine power dynamics in (hetero)sexuality throughout the song. They express and open desire and attraction to the men discussed in the song, subverting social restrictions that limit Black women's sexuality. Historically, Black women have been portrayed as ‘sexually willing characters often inviting of sexual objectification’. This 'Jezebel' figure stems from the history of colonialism and slavery, particularly referring to Black women who sleep with white men, though 'the rape of a female slave was probably the most common form of interracial sex' during slavery. Black women are blamed for the way white men mistreat them, are still hypersexualised in the media, which may create a need to control perceptions of sexuality; to either become desexualised, or attempt to achieve sexual autonomy. Lizzo's lyrics express a sense of sexual liberation. Her desires are explicitly clear in lyrics like 'I don't need you, I just want to freak you,' subverting stereotypical presentations of women being emotionally invested in sexual relationships about which men are often portrayed as noncommittal.
Women are simultaneously judged more harshly than men for perceived sexual promiscuity, and less likely to receive equal pleasure in heterosexual relationships. In lines like 'come give me dome boy' Lizzo 'makes sure to center her own pleasure' rather than allow it to be made secondary by this stereotypical dynamic. She literally centres herself - these lyrics are sung over shots of her sitting in the middle of the frame - while reversing women's submission in heterosexual relationships. In the line 'got a boy on his knees, he a man in the sheets' she suggests men should not feel emasculated when women take a more dominant sexual role. Heterosexual power dynamics relate to the wider gender hierarchy, as alluded to by the phrase 'the personal is political.' Lizzo's call for equal pleasure expands to more general equality.
In some feminisms, there is a perception of hip hop as an inherently misogynistic genre. Only 22% of 403 songs reviewed by Weizer and Kubrin (2009) included misogynist lyrics or imagery. While this number is not insignificant, it is lower than some commentary implies. Hip hop is also an arena for the reclamation of power by many Black female artists as well as Lizzo - Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah, Mary J Blige, to name a few - and one which Joan Morgan said she could 'no more separate ... from feminism than I could my blackness from my femaleness'. Hip hop feminism is an intersectional, 'functional' feminist structure, which recognises the 'interlocking and overlapping nature of sexism, racism, and capitalism in the lives of black and other non-white women.' Its influence is visible in Lizzo's work.
In 'Boys,' Lizzo raps directly to camera while a woman in a short dress dances behind her, emulating other similar hip hop videos, often criticised for sexualising female dancers. However, with Lizzo at the centre of this shot, the boundaries between gendered power and sexuality are shown to be inconsistent and malleable. Lizzo takes on a more masculine persona in this scene, wearing an afro and a bomber jacket; an homage to Prince, who posed for a photoshoot in front of the same wall where the video is filmed. Through her performance of masculinity, she acquires the power and status that male artists achieve in similar contexts, showing it is not only accessible to men.
Lizzo also performs femininity in the video, through hyperfeminine costumes. One includes leopard-print lingerie, a feathered robe, long hair, large hoop earrings and glittery eye makeup. Rather than emphasized femininity, this is exaggerated femininity - hyperbolic performance of gender. Though arguably all gender is performed, 'realness requires adherence to certain performances... to capture the authenticity of particular gender and sexual identities.' Going beyond 'realness' is associated with common conceptions of drag, where gender is deliberately performed and parodied. A participant in Cristy Dougherty's 'Drag Performance and Femininity' said 'you can literally put femininity on and take it off' referring to the wigs, makeup and clothes used in drag These performative symbols demonstrate a distinction between sex and gender.
In another scene, Lizzo and two female dancers act as though using urinals, then dance in front of them. By taking up space in a masculine gendered environment, the existence of which 'is a means of honoring, if not producing' gender difference with a hyperfeminine appearance poses a challenge to the idea of a distinct binary and the way it divides the world. This is a direct display of the subversive confrontation to rigid ideas of gender that are presented throughout the video. As Lizzo switches between masculine and feminine costumes, she embodies each aesthetic equally, moving easily between them. I argue this makes a case for the fluidity of gender.
Genderfluidity, along with transness in general, provides a valuable lens to look at the performative and variable nature of gender as distinct from sex. Gender nonconformity is underanalysed, and much of the existing research focusses on the risks and trauma experienced by gender diverse people. The way nonconformity is discussed in academia is pathologizing, and centres dysphoria and medical transition, which reinforces the 'socially constructed sex and gender binaries of male/female, man/woman, and masculine/feminine.' In the 'Boys' video, Lizzo offers a liberating alternative. She controls the way others respond to the difference modes of expression she shifts between, being empowered to 'do' gender playfully. While her lyrics focus on men's value, ('Go and slay boys, you my fave boys) she creates a visual space in which gender can be explored unrestricted by patriarchal systems of control, and without real-world dangers faced by trans people, especially Black trans femmes.
By taking control of masculinities in relation to herself, asserting sexual freedom and desire, and moving between gendered costumes at will, Lizzo is able to reclaim her body, which has been politicised and controlled by patriarchy, colonialism and misogynoir. She rejects the control of these systems, explores the potential for Black masculinities outside of toxicity, and creates a post-structuralist space for uncritical self-expression, movement and autonomy.
