
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Would BeyoncĂ© be interesting to hang out with in person? Is she really, truly musically talented? Does she deserve to be called a feminist? Is she actively scheming to heal deep-seated African-American cultural wounds by letting her 2-year-oldâs hair look like a 2-year-oldâs hair?
Welcome to the list of highly subjective and largely unanswerable questions about the chart-topping pop star.
Prominent among the debates that have continued to percolate, long after Wendy Williamsâ declaration that the singer âsounds like she has a fifth-grade educationâ: Is BeyoncĂ© smart?
Frustratingly, we rarely define terms when we have these discussions. Are we evaluating based on a mastery of the concepts offered by a formal education? Quick-witted verbal communication? Business savvy? Creativity? Wise management of a public image?
It gets complicated. But when it comes to the move BeyoncĂ© made on Mondayâpublishing an essay titled, âGender Equality Is a Myth!ââthere shouldnât be much of a debate about her intelligence.Â
Advertisement
She joined Hillary Clinton, Jada Pinkett Smith and other high-profile women to write on behalf of the Shriver Reportâs recent findingsâincluding the fact that 42 million women in the U.S. are either living in poverty or are on the brink of living in poverty.
âToday, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes,â BeyoncĂ© said in a piece that also calls for teaching boys about equality and respect in order to advance equal pay and respect for women.Â
Hereâs where it gets good, though. Readers who click the link to the superstarâs âfeminist essayâ will be led to continue reading âA Womanâs Nation Pushes Back from the Brink,â which contains the Shriver Reportâs analysis of the rates of financial insecurity among American women, its investigation of the impact on the nationâs economic future and proposals for solutions.
Advertisement
Iâm not too concerned about whether BeyoncĂ©âs statement was transcribed directly from the singerâs own notebook, heavily inspired by feminist blogs or carefully finessed by the hand of an editor. Itâs accurate. Itâs provocative. Itâs clear. You canât really argue with the content. And despite what many who are entrenched in academia or progressive politics might thinkâthat the content of her piece isnât anything newâits facts and concepts arenât likely to be common knowledge to many of the fans and critics who will stumble upon the piece and the accompanying report today.
In other words, while another fruitless debate is reignited about BeyoncĂ©âs worth as a human being, her essay has expertly done its job: placing a spotlight on the endlessly more significant issues related to the lives of women who donât drop surprise albums and donât make headlines.
Thatâs what I call smart.
JenĂ©e Desmond-Harris is The Rootâs senior staff writer. Follow her on Twitter.
