Our Favorite Feminist Songs

Highly Recommended by Yes Ma'am

Just a Girl by No Doubt

"I like the song because it illustrates how people treat women sort of like children, feeling a need to protect our innocence and prevent us from attaining independence. It attacks the idea that women are less competent than men, and uses tongue-in-cheek language to indicate to the listener that the persona will not tolerate being looked upon as, "just a girl," anymore."-Athena Allred

"Gwen Stefani lists many of the reasons being a girl in this day and age can suck and says in a sarcastic tone “ I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite, so don’t let me have any rights” and states the general feeling of most women: “I’ve had it up to here.”-Kate Krimson

Athena Allred's Favorites

Fighter by Christina Aguilera. This song may or may not necessarily be about people discouraging the singer because of her gender, but it's a powerful song about overcoming what other people think of you and growing stronger through adversity.

Mother of Pearl by Nellie McKay. Nellie McKay simultaneously debunks the idea that, "Feminists don't have a sense of humor," and points out that the issues feminists deal with are not to be taken lightly. It's very cutesy, folksy, innocent sounding music--check out the ukelele-- but it has the powerful message the women are not going to stop fighting for their rights, even if we are told to sit down and shut up.



Woman is the Nigger of the World by John Lennon. Interesting that a man wrote such a powerful song about the way women are treated. It uses strong pejorative language to evoke the right feeling, that women are viewed and treated as less valuable than men, citing specific imagistic examples to support that point.



That I Would be Good by Alanis Morrissette. In this song, Alanis challenges the idea that our intrinsic value as people can somehow be muted or diminished by having traits that society deems undesirable. The "undesirable" things that are listed in the song can have special meaning for women, whose worth is seemingly based on outside opinion. The message is that we are all good and worthy, no matter how imperfect we are.





Precious Things by Tori Amos. As with much of her music, this song of Tori Amos deals with being a female child and what it feels like growing up as a girl. It details an incident when the persona was so desperate for male approval that she thanked a boy for calling her ugly. The song goes on to detail the persona's anger at the boys who placed expectations for femininity and purity on her and all the girls in the world that she saw who were easily fulfilling those expectations without challenging them. However, the point of the song is to let go of these things that we have internalized and that have caused us much harm.

 Kate Krimson's Favorites

 
You Don’t Own Me by Lesley Gore: Gore tells off the boys by telling them that she is not an object. They can’t control what she says or does, because they don’t own her. She loves being young and free. All she wants is “to live her life the way she wants.”



Too Big for My Skin by Desdamona : Is the ultimate positive body image song. A mother tells her daughter “That her hips, could never be too big” and “That those stretch marks don’t mean a thing.” It’s just her “flesh trying to sing.” The mother says,” And if they tell you you're too big for a woman, tell them you’re just too big for your skin” because “a body just can’t hold all this beauty.”





Can’t Hold Us Down by Christina Aguilera and Lil’ Kim: Addresses some of the double standards that women face: “The guy gets all the glory the more he can score, while the girl can do the same and yet you call her a whore” or a woman’s bitch if she “speaks what’s on her mind.” It also tells the boys that think they can hold a woman down that “never can, never will.” It has one simple command for girls who are told to keep quiet: “Shout louder.”

Stupid Girls by Pink: Reminds us that feminism still has a long way to go: “What happened to the dream of a girl president? She’s dancing in the video next to 50 cent.” Pink declares that she doesn’t want girls to do whatever it takes to get a boy or to fit in, she wants to see “outcasts and girls with ambition.”




I am Woman by Helen Reddy: this song is considered by many to be THE feminist anthem and for good reason. Reddy declares women have unlimited capabilities: “ I can do anything. I am strong. I am invincible. I am woman.”






Queens of Noise by The Runaways: This rockin’ song by one of the first, if not the first, major all girl rock n’ roll bands shows that girls rock just as hard as boys and reminds them that they are “not just one of their toys” they are in fact the “Queens of Noise.”