Last week Beyoncé posted a picture of a young man wrapped in the American flag on Instagram with the names of Black men who died due to police brutality written on the white stripes. In light of the Baltimore Uprising and recent death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, Beyoncé captioned her photo: “People are hurting. Join us in supporting the NAACP to help in the cleanup efforts and to provide housing, food and supplies to those affected by the unrest in Baltimore. http://beyonce.lk/naacp”
Within moments, the BeyHive and trolls alike began to sound off in the post’s comment section. While some praised Bey for her charitable efforts with the NAACP, others felt underwhelmed. The latter bunch claimed Bey only posted the image for publicity while others jokingly commented, “Y’all know Beyoncé didn’t write this caption!” Yes, there are a number of celebrities who have social media managers, however, on numerous occasions I’ve heard people claim Beyoncé can’t write a complete sentence, much less touching photo captions, let alone song lyrics, all of which leads me to ask: Why do people think Beyoncé is dumb?
Whether it be the nicest or rudest family members, co-workers, or even strangers, there is an army of people who strongly believe Beyoncé is intellectually deficient. In order to gain more clarity on this First Degree Offense for the BeyHive, I asked professionals who do not work in the media industry why the Marketing Genius of All Time is often thought of as a “simpleton.”
Since Beyoncé didn’t attend college, professionals in the financial and advertising industries believe she lacks education on gender studies in order to speak about and promote feminism. Professionals in the Education field agreed, with some saying they were perturbed to hear and see Beyoncé perform her hit 2013 song Drunk In Love with her husband, Jay Z, while he rapped the lyrics: “I’m like Ike Turner, turn up, baby, no, I don’t play/ “Now eat the cake, Anna Mae,” said, “Eat the cake, Anna Mae!”
Malissa Rivera, a Community Director at University of Maryland at Baltimore County noted:
“The abuse Tina Turner faced from her husband, Ike Turner is well known and horrific. For someone to call themselves a feminist but not to see the issue of including those lyrics in a song, featured in the album people believe solidifies Beyoncé as a feminist, is a bit irresponsible on her part. Also, in her own written articles or interviews, Beyoncé has shared very basic ideas one would hear in a Gender Studies 101 course. I believe the feminsit hype that surrounds her is more about her celebrity status than what she’s actually saying. The obsession over her being a feminist is what causes people to attack her intelligence. Also Beyoncé is vocal in safe, controlled spaces and avoids controversial topics. Not that these things make you dumb, but it doesn’t make you look smart either.”
Other professionals have pointed out Beyoncé is “dumb” for allegedly using Photoshop on her Instagram pictures, stealing performance/song ideas and not singing thought-provoking content. An office manager who works in the fashion industry noted Beyoncé usually, if not always, appears very nervous when she speaks publicly, while others believe Beyoncé’s perfected image makes people want to create flaws for her to have. Andy Anderson, an IT Clinical Liaison who has a financial managerial background said, “I think she’s obviously smart because she chooses not to say much. She’s got everything, so it makes people feel better about themselves to suggest that she may not have the intelligence they assume to have, themselves.”
I don’t blame Bey for not revealing her true feelings about social injustice if every time she tries to take on a cause, she’s accused of sounding incompetent and lacking authenticity. Public speaking is an acquired skill that needs constant improvement and with social media becoming an engine for malicious memes or Vines, one misstep would alter how the public perceives Beyoncé. Interestingly enough, the intellect of her husband Jay Z and other male moguls (Diddy, Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerburg) is never questioned nor are they severely ridiculed for not obtaining higher education degrees.
Those of us who’ve graduated with degrees believe the education we’ve acquired makes us experts on any given liberal arts topic, like feminism. As a woman of color whose parents are immigrants, my relationship to feminism is not one dimensional. The feminist theories taught at the university level are based on ideas constructed by White women who have not had experience being a racial minority, nor do they have the cultural agency that comes along with it. If we believe the examples given define intellect, many of us would fall short due to the superficiality of these characterizations.
As millennial women, we are rapidly changing our gender roles by waiting longer for marriage, children and investing more into our professional brands. We are also changing the conversation regarding domestic violence: there are many of us who enjoy spectating violent media content but could never place ourselves on the receiving end of abuse, nor seemingly understand others who have. Even for those who have been abused, women still cross-examine others in order to verify the truth of her experience. By using these modules, it appears being dumb has nothing to do with IQ but everything to do with how you perform gender roles in your personal or professional space. And that itself is flawed.
Do you think Yoncé is dumb? If so, what does “dumb” mean to you?
