If I Was a Cowboy
Feb. 19th, 2022 07:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impala_chickMiranda Lambert came out with a new song called If I Was a Cowboy, and it quickly rose to number one on my makeshift list of very specific songs about women flipping gender around. I put the songs in one place in this post. Am I missing any?
Look at the costumes! Her love interest is a woman! She toes the line between masc and fem, although maybe leans on the fem side, and the lyrics are mostly about just doing whatever the hell you want.
Beyonce's If I Were a Boy is the first one that comes to mind. In the music video, Beyonce plays a cop and a total player. She switches the POV to illustrate just how much things would not fly if the woman was the one doing them.
Laney Wilson's Things a Man Oughta Know is a song where I hear something different every time I listen. The music video is very judgy - like, you should always choose the right path for your family, and that's what being a man is all about? But when I just hear the song, it's about how everyone can bring something different to a relationship beyond stereotypes, and it can be great if you're willing to put in emotional work.
Love Me Like a Man, by Bonnie Raitt, counts because it definitely plays on gender stereotypes in sexual relationships.
Cowboy Junkie's If You Were the woman and I was the man does something these others don't - a man and a woman trade off the lyrics, but they contemplate the same actions. I like that balance and that uncertainty about if there are supposed to be gender roles at all.
ETA: Neko Case's Man. Had not heard this one before I googled this type of song, but this one is different because she doesn't return to being a woman. I can't quite tell if the message is about being trans or about trying to make 'man' a non-gender specific term.
Look at the costumes! Her love interest is a woman! She toes the line between masc and fem, although maybe leans on the fem side, and the lyrics are mostly about just doing whatever the hell you want.
Beyonce's If I Were a Boy is the first one that comes to mind. In the music video, Beyonce plays a cop and a total player. She switches the POV to illustrate just how much things would not fly if the woman was the one doing them.
Laney Wilson's Things a Man Oughta Know is a song where I hear something different every time I listen. The music video is very judgy - like, you should always choose the right path for your family, and that's what being a man is all about? But when I just hear the song, it's about how everyone can bring something different to a relationship beyond stereotypes, and it can be great if you're willing to put in emotional work.
Love Me Like a Man, by Bonnie Raitt, counts because it definitely plays on gender stereotypes in sexual relationships.
Cowboy Junkie's If You Were the woman and I was the man does something these others don't - a man and a woman trade off the lyrics, but they contemplate the same actions. I like that balance and that uncertainty about if there are supposed to be gender roles at all.
ETA: Neko Case's Man. Had not heard this one before I googled this type of song, but this one is different because she doesn't return to being a woman. I can't quite tell if the message is about being trans or about trying to make 'man' a non-gender specific term.