Running Head: “I’M A BOSS IN A SKIRT, I’M A DOG, I’M A FLIRT” 1
“I’m a boss in a skirt, I’m a dog, I’m a flirt”:
How Cardi B Impacts Feminism, Parasocial Relationships, and Objectification in Music
Carni Campbell
American University
“I’M A BOSS IN A SKIRT, I’M A DOG, I’M A FLIRT” 2
This article will analyze the ways in which Cardi B uniquely impacts feminism, specifically hip
hop feminism, parasocial relationships, and the role of objectification in music. This essay
argues that Cardi B’s “realness” displayed on her social media, her unconventional rise to
fame, and her popular music and videos makes her a crucial figure to analyze in regards to the
intersection of feminism, parasocial relationships, and objectification. Research was conducted
by watching her music videos, listening to her chart-topping music, reading articles written
about her, and analyzing her Instagram and Twitter.
Keywords: Cardi B, Feminism, Hip Hop Feminism, Parasocial Relationships, Objectification,
Music, Self-Objectification, Social Media
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Cardi B, the musician, social media mogul, and personality has become one of the most
iconic figures of this generation. Starting out as a stripper in the Bronx, the iconic celebrity has
become an extremely successful rapper and artist topping charts across the world. Her
personality and catch phrases flood television programming and social media feeds as she
continuously grows in popularity. Controversial actions, statements, and her musical success
have led her to become a reoccuring figure in the news cycle, both in pop culture news outlets
and mainstream news outlets. Her expansive following, appearances in memes and gifs, and
catch phrases like “Okurr” have brought her immense popularity allowing her music and
presence to impact millions of people everyday.
The multifaceted celebrity has topped charts as a female rapper, commented on politics,
and rose from nearly nothing to one of the highest grossing figures to date. Her influence in
music, specifically rap, and her presence on social media has helped define feminism,
celebrity-fan relationships, and objectification in popular culture. Through her beginning as an
exotic dancer, Cardi B gained a social media following for her “unfiltered attitude about it” until
she entered the music industry (Shamsian and Singh, 2019). Bodak Yellow
was her first major hit
and secured her role as an influential and popular rapper in the music industry (Newsbeat, 2019).
According to Billboard
, Cardi B has had three #1 hits: I Like It
, Bodak Yellow
, Please Me
, and
eight top 10 songs (Billboard, 2019). She is the first female rapper to have two Billboard Hot 100
Number 1 hits (Billboard, 2019). As such an impactful figure in pop culture, it is worth
academically considering how Cardi B impacts the way people think about feminism and how
she influences relationships and views of women.
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Music itself and the implications that come with the content that the music holds and
shares with society provides insight into the values of the society during a time period. Female
and male artists often cater to different groups of people and the lyrics and music videos can
send different messages to the viewers and listeners. Misogyny and objectification have been
major forces in the music industry for decades, and has been extensively studied in specifically
rap and hip hop. When researching objectification in music, Flynn et al (2016) found that female
artists are more likely to self objectify than male artists in all genres, not just rap and/or hip hop.
The study addresses body objectification, attractiveness, female/male gaze, and more in songs of
all genres and many time periods.
Feminism in music has started to become more recognizable and hip-hop feminism has
increased its popularity immensely. Treva B. Lindsey, for example, analyzes the importance of
teaching hip-hop feminism in urban education-- a field that is often overlooked (2014). Lindsey
emphasizes the importance of representation and how teaching hip-hop feminism would allow
people to see females as producers instead of just consumers of the industry (2014). Although
self-objectification is present in music, Lindsey’s article encourages representation and self
expression to empower young females and artists (2014).
Since music and celebrities are so present in popular culture and society in general, their
influence goes further than just news and entertainment. Many people often find themselves in
music and look up to celebrities as role models. In order to see just how people identify and find
themselves in music, McKinlay and McVittie (2017) conducted a study to see the ways in which
people are influenced by lyrics and music. They found ways in which music and lyrics impact
discursive psychology conversation and the extent to which people find their identities in music
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(McKinlay, McVittie 2017). The reliance and importance of music and lyrics to people expand
further than just helping them find their identity and/or identifying with the music itself.
Musicians and celebrities serve as role models and are very public to the general population.
People that care and are more invested in celebrities, are more likely to be interested in
hypothetical fame according to a study by Greenwood et al (2018).
Compared to other musicians like Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift, Cardi B still serves as a
role model for her fans but not in a good, wholesome girl way. Her background makes her
somewhat of an underdog and her success was based on her work ethic as she went from exotic
dancer to chart-topping artist. While Nicki Minaj is a successful artist, Cardi B’s personality and
social media contribute more to her popularity and to her success as the first female solo artist to
win best rap album at the Grammys (Trust, 2018). Taylor Swift encompasses a much more
wholesome, “good girl”, type of persona while Cardi B is more raw, raunchy, and has a very
different, unconventional musical rise to fame.
I will argue the psychological impacts and influences Cardi B has on feminism, celebrity
relationships, and objectification that stem from her music and social media. Cardi B’s unique
persona as seen in her music and social media to her rise to fame makes her an interesting figure
to look into because her influences on people intersect in a way that has not been seen before. By
looking at Cardi B’s social media use, popular culture presence, and music I will show how these
areas combine in a unique way to bring new discoveries in feminism, parasocial relationships,
music, and objectification. Her different, outrageous persona makes us think differently
compared to past celebrities about how these separate areas can actually intersect, connect, and
work off of each other to simultaneously bring discoveries in separate areas of psychology.
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Method
To begin taking a look at Cardi B’s influence and why people are so intrigued and
infatuated with her, I began by looking at her social media, searching for posts that define her
and are attractive to her followers. On Twitter and Instagram I chose to focus on tweets and posts
that made the news and were referenced in the articles about her or a situation she was involved
in. I also chose posts that portrayed her persona and created the most conversation in the news
and among fans. I chose to listen to her most well-known music which was determined by
whether they were featured on Billboard
charts while looking at the lyrics to understand more of
the content and stanzas she was singing. Then, I examined her music videos to compare the
effects of their the visual message with the auditory experience of the song. The videos used
ranged from 76 million views (Twerk
) to 927 million views (I Like It
) and were published
between June 2017 and March 2019. I wanted to look for background information about her rise
to fame so I chose and studied articles related to Cardi B, considering areas such as her music,
meme presence, gif presence, feuds, and political commentary. This provides insight into how
her fame and relationships with other celebrities and social media show her interactions with
society and role in popular culture. There were several articles regarding the feud she had with
Nicki Minaj and her commentary on the latest government shutdown and other current events. I
looked more in depth on her rise to fame, from stripper to top-charted rapper to pop culture icon.
It intrigued me because it differed from most musicians’ paths to success.
Reading articles about music and lyrics led to research about identity and objectification.
Studies about voice effect and parasocial relationships portrayed how her persona influenced her
fans and how her voice and phrases impact the people that hear them. These provided
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explanations and ideas regarding her connections between fans and with social media as well.
Cardi B encompasses these different aspects and is a unique figure that is interesting to study as
she intersects multiple unrelated areas-- feminism, parasocial relationships, and objectification --
of psychology into one person. Studies about hip hop feminism connected to her posts on social
media and her lyrics/music videos. Her connections through her Twitter and Instagram account
can be explained by the articles about voice effect and parasocial relationships. Some of these
areas have never connected with each other in this way until Cardi B became so prominent in
pop culture. Because of the unique way in which she encompasses all of these vastly different
areas of study, she is an important figure to examine when understanding social movements,
relationships, and expression of today.
“The problem is that being a feminist is something so great, but y’all don’t
want me to be great”: Redefining Feminism Through Hip Hop
Feminism is a constantly changing social movement and can be seen through music and
the interpretations of Cardi B’s lyrics, songs, and music videos. Lindsey (2014) focuses in her
study on how important hip hop feminism is for urban education because it can create better
educational outcomes for Black and Brown students. She argues the importance of hip hop
feminism as it encompasses both transformative theories and actions for urban education. The
ideals of hip-hop feminism can be seen in Cardi B’s music through the lens of a popular,
Afro-Latina artist. Her lyrics and body positivity promote similar empowering ideals discussed
in this study as well as an example of how Lindsey’s argument to increase hip-hop feminist
education can bring recognition and display females in more hip-hop roles.
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Cardi B represents a more modern day movement of feminism through her music, lyrics,
persona, and social media. In this more modern wave, there is an emphasis on body positivity,
freedom of fashion, and women being able to do what they want to. With the rise of the #MeToo
movement, there has been more awareness of how, “whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes
means yes and no means no” (marylandnow.org, 2014). Many of Cardi B’s videos and outfits are
very revealing and show a lot of skin, emphasizing the idea of reclaiming women’s bodies and
being able to wear what they want to for themselves and not for men. Her Twerk
(2018) and
Please Me
(2019) videos, for example, are quite provocative with sexually suggestive dance
moves, little clothing, emphasis on the females’ body parts, and the outfits are mostly just bare
skin. However, in the Please Me
music video, her character seems to be in more control over the
relationship instead of the male character in the traditionally commanding role. In the music
video, the male character (Bruno Mars) is seen following the female character (Cardi B) on
multiple occasions, Mars is positioned lower than Cardi B in a begging fashion while she stands
taller and above him, and Cardi B pushes him away a couple times throughout the video-- not in
defense but in a dismissive way. This shift of power and power over her body she has in the
video is an example of these newer feminist ideals. Through hip-hop feminism, Cardi B
explicitly shows the powerful, empowering role a female musician can have and promotes
Lindsey’s (2014) emphasized ideals described in her study.
Cardi B is clearly a popular icon and many females look up to her and her strong
personality and role in the music industry. In speaking about her past as a stripper, she brings
awareness to that job and the realities of it for the females in the business. For example, she
spoke in response to people disrespecting her and complaining about her background by saying it
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is because “because y’all don’t respect me because of it, and y’all going to respect these strippers
from now on … Just because somebody was a stripper don’t mean they don’t have no brain”
(qtd. Hughes, 2018). Speaking about respect and how women are treated and criticized is an
example of how Cardi B, arguably unconventionally, promotes feminist ideals. On her social
media platforms, she also posts photos without makeup and about embracing her natural beauty.
She captioned one photo “Knock me down 9 times but i get up 10 b*tch!”, a lyric from her song
Get Up 10
(2018).
This caption, along with a photo of herself with no makeup or wig, leaves
followers and other Instagram viewers with an empowering message about not quitting and
about embracing themselves. While this isn't necessarily a new concept, it can be part of a more
current wave of feminism in the era of social media, photoshop, and makeup. Promoting these
ideals can boost the confidence of her followers and shows how vulnerable Cardi B can be with
her fans.
“NO still means NO”: Objectification and Music
Self Objectification
While she does represent many movements of modern day feminism, her lyrics and
music still align with examples of self objectification, especially in the hip hop genre. As Flynn
et al (2016) found, female artists are more likely to self objectify in their music and Cardi B
seems play into this statistic through her lyrics and music videos. In nearly every music video of
hers, she is wearing revealing clothing that show her breasts and butt. Her past experience as a
stripper can be seen in her music videos like Twerk
(2018), Please Me
(2019), I Like It
(2018),
and Bodak Yellow
(2017) due to the sexually suggestive dance moves and revealing outfits of the
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women in the video. While it is more likely that female artists self-objectify according to the
study’s findings, there may be a shift in society as it can be viewed as a part of a more modern
version of feminism. According to the study, self objectification in music “encourage[s] young
men’s belief that male gaze and attention is invited” which can be seen through the sexually
suggestive images of the women’s bodies and dance in Cardi B’s music videos (Flynn et al,
2016). Even though it can self objectifying and pleasing to the male, heterosexual eye, she does
seem to spin it around and make herself more in control. The way she commands and presents
herself is more in a way of loving oneself and that she can wear what she wants to for herself and
not for men. By portraying herself on throne-like objects and with powerful stances, Bodak
Yellow
’s music video demonstrates these empowering messages even if it seems to be to satisfy
the male gaze. The Flynn (2016) study also references Fredrickson and Roberts’ claims that the
objectification theory shows how women “internalize media and other external perspectives”
when defining themselves physically. This causes self-monitoring which may lead to negative
outcomes like “higher levels of shame and anxiety”. These impacts of objectification prove how
impactful these images can be which shows how important Cardi B’s messages can be. The
ideals portrayed in her music can empower and encourage women to do the same by reversing
the traditional views of objectification and making the motivation behind the clothing and dance
moves empowering for women rather than satisfying for men. As studied before, people identify
with and find their identities in music which can be a tool for Cardi B’s fans and listeners to
better themselves (McKinlay, McVittie, 2017). Cardi B’s encouragement of this reversal mindset
furthers empowerment ideals of feminism, specifically hip hop feminism, and influences the
ways her audience thinks about themselves in the context of body positivity over objectification.
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Music (Lyrics and Video)
According to McKinlay and McVittie (2017), by looking at the different ways popular
music determines and creates identities, popular music is not just determined by social forces,
rather, the song’s meaning and peoples’ relationship with it are central aspects of our lives. In the
process, their study found that people change and arrange their identities as they find them in
popular music. This concept is crucial to understanding and proving how influential Cardi B’s
chart-topping, award winning popular music has been and can be. Her music portrays identities
like self-empowerment which heavily relates to themes of feminism. This avenue is different
from social media connections and identities portrayed there since it is a different medium and a
long-standing way in which people have identified themselves. This study proves how people are
very connected to music and form their identities through it so the messages Cardi B expresses
will influence her listeners immensely.
Cardi B’s lyrics and videos are provocative and promote self objectification while being
confident and in control of oneself. In one of her chart-topping songs, Bodak Yellow
, she exhibits
both of these areas. Lyrics like “I’ll let him do what he want/He buy me Yves Saint Laurent”
seem to be feeding into the ideas of self objectification and submissiveness of women. The lyrics
suggest that she is submissive and not in control since she will “let him do what he want” to her.
However, in the chorus, she says “I’m a boss, you a worker b*tch” displaying her power and
confidence in herself that may not be displayed by other artists. Cardi B does this with the
intention to impact and empower her fans that listen to her music for the messages and artistic
display. The impact of these lyrics can make her listeners become more confident as they sing
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and dance along to other lyrics like “little b*tch, you can’t f*ck with me/If you wanted to” and
“they see pictures, they say goals/B*tch, I'm who they tryna be” (Bodak Yellow,
2017). Her
video Twerk
displays multiple women twerking and dancing on cars with very little and
revealing clothing which is an example of self objectification. The Flynn et al article discusses
the importance, in terms of objectification, of physical attraction and sex appeal emphasized for
females in music which is a theme that can be seen in the Twerk
music video (2016). The
revealing clothing and sexual dance moves can be seen as contributing to this aspect of
objectification. However, Cardi B addressed these ideas after the video received some backlash
and commentary. A tweet from Stephania Hamill, a Daily Caller
contributor, said “In the Era of
#meToo how exactly does this empower women?” (Twitter, 2018). Cardi B responded with a
tweet stating “It says to women that I can wear and not wear what ever I want. do w.e I want and
that NO still means NO. So Stephanie chime in..If I twerk and be half naked does that mean I
deserve to get raped and molested ? I want to know what a conservative woman like you thinks
(thinking and eyebrow raised emoji)”. The response to the controversy of this music video shows
the relevancy of Cardi B’s content outside of just the music industry. She has helped start a
conversation about what the #MeToo movement means and how women should be able to view
themselves. Her response emphasizes the importance of not viewing women’s outfits and dance
as objectification and an opportunity for men, but rather as a tool for female empowerment and
taking back the traditional exploitation and satisfaction of the female body.
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#Bardigang: Parasocial Relationships
Social Media
As social media grows as a source of communication and infiltrates our lives more each
day, the connections between people and technology are a necessary area to study. In a study
about voice effect and learning from a virtual human, professors and published authors Scotty
Craig and Noah Schroeder found that people trust human and virtual voices about the same
amount (Craig and Schroeder, 2017). The study found that human reactions were about the same
to learning and retaining information provided by a virtual human in voices from classic to
text-to-speech voices. Cardi B’s voice is extremely recognizable and the results of this study can
connect how humans’ reactions to voice translate to her success and career in music and through
social media. The trust and learning that comes with virtual humans and technology could be a
sign of the impacts of social media on its users.
Not only does Cardi B use her social media to promote her music, her active role on her
own accounts continuously reminds and updates her followers which builds a trust similar to the
virtual trust discussed in the Craig and Schroeder study (2017). She speaks about politics on
various platforms and posts photos both with and without makeup on. Social media is usually a
very filtered platform-- especially Instagram-- so having a celebrity post photos without makeup
or touch-ups is encouraging and a good movement away from making women think they have to
look and act a way that isn't real. One article in the JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery (2018) states
that apps like Snapchat and Facetune allow people “to alter his or her appearance in an instant
and conform to an unrealistic and often unattainable standard of beauty” (qtd. Willingham,
2018). The ability to edit appearance is quite prevalent on social media so the fact that Cardi B
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shares raw, natural looks makes her stand out and is an example for her followers of how to
embrace one’s natural state. As for her followers, it’s interesting to see how many she has gained
and how she acts different on each platform. On her Instagram account, as of April 20th, 2019,
she has 43.1 million followers and on Twitter she has 5.69 million followers which demonstrates
how expansive her fan base is and how many people she can reach and that can reach her on any
given day. Being able to feel like users genuinely know her is an interesting take on fame for
social media icons like Cardi B and the vulnerability she may express on these platforms. On
Instagram she posted a photo with no makeup or wig, which is rare for her since those are
usually part of her staple look, and many users loved it, but others gave her hate. One fan
commented “Your realness is stellar!” while others complimented her natural hair (qtd.
Demopoulos, 2018). The “realness” and openness she has through social media platforms like
Instagram and Twitter create a unique relationship with her fans and is a main contributor to why
people like her so much. While many musicians use their social media to promote their business
and occasionally post about their daily lives, Cardi B keeps her followers updated and is
outspoken on current events in addition to promoting her music and videos.
Celebrity Status and Fame
Because of her fame on social media, music, and just being a popular culture icon in
general, she has gained quite the following and status. Her persona is very recognizable, her
catch phrases like “Okurr” can be heard daily on social media and among younger generations,
and her meme/gif presence have all attributed to her celebrity status. She has also increased her
fame and opinions about her because of controversy, calling out other celebrities, and feuding.
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Whether on talk shows, in her music, or over social media, Cardi B seems to be committed to
being “real” with her massive number of followers. In a Youtube video by TheTalko (2018)
titled “15 Times Cardi B Kept It Way Too Real With Us” discusses the variety of ways in which
she has been “real” with her fans. From her openness about her butt and breast injections to the
impacts of motherhood, the video dissects fifteen ways that Cardi B has been “real” with the
public, specifically her fans. Her name is recognizable and she has become one of the most
popular figures of this time period as seen by her following and musical success in awards and
top songs. She has established her credibility and impact in the music industry by winning one
Grammy Award (seven nominations), “three American Music Awards, three MTV Video Music
Awards, an NRJ Music Award, four iHeartRadio Music Awards, two BET Awards, and a
Billboard Music Award” (Wikipedia, 2019). Because of her success and popularity, it is a given
that others would crave her lifestyle and create a substantial fan base. Receiving thousands of
comments and retweets on every post proves how people engage with her quite frequently and
create a conversation around her content. When searching for her fan pages on Instagram, the
number for Cardi B are nearly endless and continues to show how impactful she is to people and
the impressive following she has created.
Her relatable personality and connection with her followers creates the trust between fans
and celebrities and is a prime example of the impacts of parasocial relationships. As discussed in
Greenwood et al’s (2018) study, people that are more invested in celebrities are more likely to
crave that lifestyle. The relationship Cardi B’s fans believe they have with her exhibit the
impacts of parasocial relationships as demonstrated in a study by Charles DeBacker (2012). It
shows how “repetitive visual encounters with media characters will result in the establishment
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and development of strong parasocial bonds between stars and their audiences” (DeBacker,
2012). Cardi B’s relatable content, constant posting, and realness on her social media platforms
exemplifies the relationship with fans and enhances the parasocial bonds. Unlike some
celebrities, Cardi B posts photos without makeup and has an unfiltered persona when speaking in
interviews which gives her the realness her followers crave. Her constant appearances on
followers’ feeds and in the news provide the “repetitive visual encounters” referenced in the
DeBacker study (2012). Because of the unending number of fan accounts and thousands of
people that also follow those fan accounts, people are more invested in Cardi B than many other
celebrities. Through the social media platform, it is easier for fans to connect with other fans and
express their love, and hate, for celebrities. This attachment and connection to celebrities like
Cardi B show the interesting intersection between technology and celebrity lifestyle. Her
presence on social media provides a platform for her to implement the hip hop feminist ideals
mentioned earlier. Body and facial image are main components in feminism to reclaim past
views of women, and Cardi B uses her social media to exhibit empowerment through revealing
posts and posts about body positivity (Instagram, 2019). Additionally, the trust and relationship
built with Cardi B through these platforms aligns with the findings of the study about voice
effect and virtual humans. The investment, relationship, and trust people have built for someone,
Cardi B in this case, behind a screen is telling of the values of people in our current society. Even
though she isn’t really there in front of them people have built this attachment to her persona,
music, media, and videos through parasocial relationships in the media.
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Conclusion
From this study, it was concluded that Cardi B is a crucial and influential figure of study
when looking at how musicians impact a variety of areas within psychology. Cardi B has
transformed the ways in which one can view feminism, parasocial relationships, and
objectification in music. The “realness” of her social media opens the door to more research
about how parasocial relationships can become stronger because the fan can relate more to the
celebrity. Cardi B is one of the first celebrities to do this, especially due to her social and musical
status. What would traditionally be seen as self-objectification, Cardi B’s music videos exhibit
female empowerment and exemplify the concept that women can wear what they want for their
enjoyment, not for men. These feminist messages found on her social media and in her music are
examples of ways in which Cardi B is transforming and bringing awareness to the importance of
hip hop feminism. For future studies, it would be interesting to see how another artist influences
these areas but in a less controversial way. Around the end of March 2019, it was released that
Cardi B used to drug men and take their money during her time as a stripper (Grady, 2019).
These actions do not align with feminist ideals and can be limiting to solely look at how she
positively impacts the mentioned areas of study. Studies about other artists that have less, or
more, controversy would be interesting to see to what extent musicians can influence these areas
of psychology.
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