FeminismSkepticism

Beyonce Addresses Elevatorgate

The queen of rap, Nicki Minaj, slayed it with Queen B in Beyonce’s Flawless remix, where the icons teamed up to address organized atheism’s biggest controversy: Elevatorgate. In the song, they talk about all the sweet blog money Rebecca has gained through her years in the lucrative feminist atheist business:

“Of course sometimes shit goes down when there’s a billion dollars on an elevator.”

I’m glad that Beyonce and Nicki Minaj have taken some time to address an important moment in our movement. I look forward to Richard Dawkins’ response, and Beyonce’s subsequent counter-response:

 

Courtney Caldwell

Courtney Caldwell is an intersectional feminist. Her talents include sweary rants, and clogging your social media with pictures of her dogs (and occasionally her begrudging cat). She's also a political nerd, whose far-left tendencies are a little out of place in the deep red Texas.

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28 Comments

  1. Because it’s funny when women hit men and they should just take it (because he probably deserves it). Still waiting for Solange to get any negative press for this.

    1. No, it’s not funny when women hit men in elevators, and you’re absolutely right on this whoever you are. You’re absolutely right that the blows thrown by Solange in the elevator cam were treated in the press as reality TV giggles and gossip rather than attempted criminal assault (bodyguard earned his pay that night cutting that mess short quick).

      A young mom in my family is facing criminal charges and potential loss of custody because she lost her temper and assaulted her immature, self-absorbed, unreliable, obstructive, demanding, and borderline child neglectful baby’s daddy. Like I told her brother, she can’t react like that, no matter how frustrating it may be dealing with him. Duh. Right? Should be, but it’s obviously not Duh to everybody, like some in my own family, and celebrity media’s tabloidy teehee titterati’s do bear responsibility for sowing confusion on this. Take the interminable Housewives from WhoWhatWhereville, for example, which trivializes assaults ‘titterati style.

      Not funny. And because I haven’t heard “the media” say so, I will. Solange? Outside of self-defense to protect yourself physically? Kicks and punches are criminal assault, girlfriend. Defense being the exception, it is otherwise it’s almost never okay to whale on someone regardless of how much they piss you off.

  2. Seriously? I’m the only one who has a problem with this? Abused men suffer in silence because they think people will laugh at them. Sarcastically calling it a “important moment in our movement” doesn’t sound like you take it seriously.

    1. Just because no one has yet to reply doesn’t mean you’re the only one who has a problem with it…

      Honestly, though, I don’t think Jay Z needs anyone to defend him. He seems completely fine with whatever transpired in the elevator.

      1. Jay-Z isn’t going to complain because it would make him look weak. If Jay-Z don’t have a problem with it, then good for him, but other men aren’t so lucky.

        1. Did you see Jay Z’s posture in the videos of the event? He wasn’t at all worried. He was laughing and completely relaxed.

          No, I don’t think glorification of violence is okay, but Jay Z was in no danger whatsoever and I very much doubt he feels threatened in any way. In fact, the reason he was so relaxed is because he’s probably very aware of the fact that he’s bigger, stronger, and more powerful (not just in the physical sense) than Solange.

    2. Ummm, you do realize that nobody actually thinks the song has anything to do with our movement right? And that this post is a play on Rebecca’s Elevatorgate?

    3. See? Most people would wait a week before concluding you were ‘the only one who has a problem with this’. Some would wait a day. Some would wait five hours.

      You…can’t even manage that.

      Oh, and FYI, one thing men who actually have been physically or sexually abused by women absolutely hate is being turned into MRA icons. And I doubt you have Jay-Z’s consent to make him into an MRA icon. Stay classy.

      1. Meeeh, I don’t think drken was trying to turn him into an MRA icon. I think drken has some solid points, but I also think they are ignoring the obvious (to everyone INCLUDING Jay-Z) power differences.

        Jay Z was and is no danger whatsoever, and he knew and knows it. His posture in that video is very telling.

  3. I get the reference to “Elevatorgate” and I’m sorry I jumped the gun on the “nobody else cares”, but I’m not trying to be a MRA icon and I don’t really care about Jay-Z. If was trying to be a MRA icon, I would have called for him to be able to hit her back, calling it “true equality”. I also would have brought it up while trying to highjack a conversation about abused women while ranting about Erin Pizzy. I did none of those things. All I’m saying is that women hitting men shouldn’t be treated like a joke. If he had hit her, anybody who tried to make light of the situation would rightfully be raked over the coals. But since she hit him, it’s a joke. I don’t think calling somebody out for doing so makes me some sort of MRA troll.

    1. I think you’re right, and I think you could have waited a minute before deciding that you were the only one who had a problem with jokes about Solange assaulting Jay Z.
      I don’t think there’s any MRAing going on, either. You could slow your roll a little, though.

    2. I don’t think you’re wrong, exactly, not in a broad sense, but I also don’t think Jay Z was in any danger and he KNEW it, and I think that’s an important part of the equation. His posture and his reaction make it clear that he thinks the whole thing was rather silly, and that he believes Solange ultimately doesn’t have any power against him.

      1. Come on…JayZ wasn’t “in danger” because he’s freaking rich and has hired a (thank gawd) mellowyellow bodyguard that’s Extraordinarily Great snuffing out physical bullshit instead of exacerbating it Police departments in New York, Chicago, hello ?!?!?! ALBUQUERQUE etc should be asking JayZ to put them in touch with *his* guy who Knows How To Pick ‘Em.

        1. I’m honestly having a hard time parsing this comment.

          It wasn’t just the bodyguard. It’s also because, as you mentioned, he’s rich and more powerful in other senses than Solange (he’s a producer and has a lot of clout in the business). But ALSO because Jay Z is a giant, strong man, especially compared to Solange, who can clearly hold her own, but who is still much smaller and weaker than Jay Z. And it’s not like she was beating him to a bloody pulp — she didn’t hit him hard AT ALL.

          If the bodyguards weren’t there and Solange attempted to attack Jay Z, there would be no way she’d win, not without a weapon.

          I’m a pretty strong woman, and I can be a bit of a bulldog, but even I know Jay Z could kick my ass if I prompted a fight with him.

        2. And I think the bodyguard being there was also good for SOLANGE, as it kept the situation from escalating. What if this was a different man and a different woman, not in an elevator being monitored by cameras and bodyguards? He could have beaten her to a bloody pulp, and some men might have if put in such a situation as that. And then he could have used the “Well, you antagonized me and forced me to beat you up!” excuse that so many men do, rather than being the bigger person (as it were) and stepping away from the situation, or calling the cops. Does that make sense? It’s late so I’m having difficulty articulating myself fully and most of this is just speculation and thinking out loud, and creating a bit of a hypothetical situation. But what if this was a private house without bodyguards? Do you honestly think Jay Z would have been in “danger” of being beat up by Solange? I think, more likely, Solange’s loss of temper would have ultimately put her in danger (if it were a slightly different situation with a different sort of man).

          Meaning that Solange initiating the violence is NOT OKAY, but the man continuing the violence would also be NOT OKAY. There’s something to be said about self-defense, of course, but there’s also something to be said for restraint, and only defending yourself so much as you need to. Not all men would stop.

    3. Again, I agree. The incident was trivialized in the media overall, (where lameness is S.O.P), but also in progressive media. It worried me at the time (and I said as much in comments at the time) that it wasn’t dealt with more seriously by anyone in any of my feeds.

      I also admit I don’t completely get this Skepchick blogpost calling back to Rebecca’s elevator thing and wondering it is just Deeper-than-my-realm, Deep-DEEP-Insider-baseball irony or what. Even though I haven’t the faintest idea who you are, I know who I am. I’m now a grandma who’s first identified herself as a “women’s libber” in the 60’s (meme-of-the-day in my small town universe) and immediately identified as “feminist” when that term came to my consciousness.

      In other words, I’m giving the benefit of the doubt for awhile here that it’s me, (last to know), that I don’t get this callback. Skepchicks, pls, help me understand what you’re really saying here?!

      1. I think it was just supposed to be a joke that missed the mark. No one is perfect, and I personally think Courtney, the author of this post, just didn’t really think things through. But, it did spark quite an interesting conversation, so I don’t think it was for nothing!

        I DO think it is important, however, when discussing Solange (a woman) hitting Jay Z (a very powerful man, both physically and otherwise), the power differences, though. There is just no way, in my opinion, that Jay Z ever felt threatened, and I think the video pretty much proves that. He was clearly highly amused. And I think that’s an interesting point — women being violent or abusive toward men for reasons other than self-defense isn’t a good thing, but It’s just NOT on the same level as most violence against women. It’s just not. You can’t ignore the power differences between Jay Z and Solange. They also don’t exist in a vacuum, and I think it’s pretty disingenuous of drken to imply that Jay Z felt threatened and didn’t say anything only because he didn’t want to seem like less of a man. That’s ridiculous in this context and I think dkren is aware of that.

        And you know, as someone who has a bit of a temper, I’ve been where Solange has been. Sometimes you just don’t give a fuck about right or wrong, and I’m ALSO pretty certain that Solange knew there was no way she was going to harm Jay Z in any way, and therefore felt “safe” giving him a few hits. Again, I’m not saying it’s right, and I have learned, as I’ve gotten older, to keep my temper in check, but boy sometimes it’s hard.

        1. I totally get this. Jay Z not only “never felt threatened”, he was bodyguarded which enabled him to never feel threatened, and allowed him this bemused detachment. I’m not begrudging him Any Of That.

          From my seat,What a Wonderful World It Would Be if everybody was equipped with Jay Z’s bodyguard. That guy was
          AWESOME! The fire putter-outer-guy, instead of the fan-the-fire-guy.

          1. I doubt he’d feel threatened if the bodyguard wasn’t there. That’s also part of my point.

            The bodyguard did his job, the job he is paid to do. I’m not sure why this makes him awesome.

            TBH, I find the need for bodyguards to be, in most cases, pretty ridiculous and unnecessary. It appears, to me at least, to be more of a status symbol than anything else. But that’s another topic altogether.

        2. I think your kind of missing the point making it about Jay-Z. I hope he’s OK, because I wouldn’t want anybody to suffer from abuse. My problem is with the MSM/interwebs complexes reaction to it, which is a much larger problem. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine (which sort of explains me being impatient with everybody). Don’t get me started about Miss Piggy (at least the Muppet Show version, I haven’t seen the new movies). By making light of it, you demean women by saying physically, they’re not to be taken seriously, which excuses otherwise inexcusable behavior. You also contribute to the humiliation of the abused, who’s reminded of his emasculation even more because “Jay-Z doesn’t have a problem with it, because he’s physically larger, rich, and has street cred (or whatever the kids call it these days)”, all signifiers of masculinity in our culture. You can also compare it to Dawkins’ (it always comes back to him) tweet about “mild pedophelia”. Just because one person doesn’t have a problem with it, doesn’t mean other people are so lucky.

          1. And I wasn’t demeaning her or not taking her seriously. I am only laying out what I believe to be pretty obvious facts. I also said nothing about street cred, so if you could please refrain from literally making shit up, that would be swell.

        3. “And you know, as someone who has a bit of a temper, I’ve been where Solange has been. Sometimes you just don’t give a fuck about right or wrong, and I’m ALSO pretty certain that Solange knew there was no way she was going to harm Jay Z in any way, and therefore felt “safe” giving him a few hits. Again, I’m not saying it’s right, and I have learned, as I’ve gotten older, to keep my temper in check, but boy sometimes it’s hard.”

          Girls will be girls, amirite?

          1. No. Me and my sisters are fighters, that’s all. My twin sister once put a guy in the hospital, I’m not even joking. But they were both, uh, not sober. I have gotten myself into some gnarly situations where my smaller and weaker statue could have put me in danger. Them’s just the facts. I just don’t always give a fuck because I have a bit of a … switch and no longer care if I do get hurt or not (which actually makes me pretty dangerous). Thankfully I’ve (mostly) grown out of that.

    4. It was more your tone than anything, and the not even waiting five hours.

      I don’t really think Jay-Z was in any danger, and he certainly didn’t think so.

  4. I must say that I actually agree with @drken‘s point, the media does tend to make a joke of domestic violence against men. I’m just not sure that this is the best case to cite to make that point. From what I’ve seen (with few a exceptions) the humor, or rather bemusement, at this incident comes mainly in the celebrity voyeur “even rich people have family problem” variety. And I most definitely don’t see it as being the point of the funny in this song (which I am sure Beyonce wouldn’t do without Hova or Solange being at least okay with it) or, by extension, this post.

    It is a good point that needs to be covered but right here, right now may not be the best place and time to broach it.

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