Beyonce' Runs the World, Girls

Since she began her career, there has been much debate about Beyonce's talent. I won't even touch on that because anyone that questions her innate skill is clearly doing their job. Hatin'.

What I want to address is a conversation I had recently with another writer who questioned her integrity as a role model for girls with her new cut and vid, "Run the World (Girls)." My writer-friend believes that Beyonce is lowering her standards by performing rather angrily in scantily-clad outfits and influencing "divaness" as the key to success.

On the contrary. Brilliantly, Beyonce is meeting young girls where they are. Today, young girls are aggressive, overly sexy and they curse like sailors. This song is a movement that speaks directly to Gen X girls and a lot of grown women today. Her message is a definitive challenge for girls to change their perception of what diva or tough means and go out and get degrees, have successful careers and let men be an accessory to you, not crutches to lean on for finances or to define their very being.

On their level, where they are, Beyonce tells girls that they have power, and to use that power in a way that it uplifts and glorifies them rather than diminishes them. When Beyonce says, "Make your check come at they neck," she's encouraging girls and women to break through glass ceilings and be on equal playing fields with men in their careers.

When she sings, "Boy you know you love it/How we're smart enough to make these millions/Strong enough to bare the children/Then get back to business," her energy is just as symbolic as her message to girls and women that men are more attracted to women who show strength and capability instead of those who show neediness and weakness and lose site of their identity.

For ages, women have been pillars of strength. Today, however, girls and grown women are allowing themselves to be defined by societal standards, or limitations, and have all but lost their sense of self. Uniquely, Beyonce has found a way to decipher the mindsets of most young girls and women today and translate encouragement in a language that is relevant to them, now. The girl is fierce!