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Makenna Cullen

Professor Granillo

English 103

19 January 2019

Mind Molder Prevention

Imagine being constantly compared to the women on tv and being told that this was the

ideal woman. Women are sexualized and seen as objects in the media creating this pressure on

the younger generation of girls, that this is the only way to act or look. In her music video for

"Stupid Girls," P!nk addresses her conflict with society/media and how they want her to act like

the women around her; to blend in, while trying to stick out. By addressing social

constructionism, the “male gaze” and the theory of the “other” sex, P!nk magnifies the concept

of gender roles; thus having “Stupid Girls” stand for everything the Feminist Theorists, Simone

de Beauvoir and Colette Guillaumin hoped the future would hold.

While some argued that P!nk's video was a lash out against her peers, and some claimed

she was the anti-Britney, P!nk stood by her word and demanded a change. In an Interview with

New York Times, P!nk stated that "In the '50s, women were supposed to just smile and stay in

the kitchen. Now we are supposed to just smile and run around and look sexy. The big difference

is, instead of men telling us to do this, we are doing it to ourselves" (Griffith Review). There was

controversy after the video released due to P!nk claiming to be a Feminist and then going on to

bash her fellow women. In order to promote women's liberation, P!nk felt she needed to make it

clear she did not stand with the women the media was idolizing.

Through her video, P!nk did not only promote ambition and brains in women but she also
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went after the vapid women that are molding the minds of the younger generation into "stupid

girls." By portraying these women in her video and positioning herself against their values, P!nk

threw Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson into the flames by proving they are

known for, "using your body, your sex, your tits and asses for the spotlight" (Refinery29). The

entire message of the video was to show the younger generation of girls that it is okay to be

smart and liberated. Like the text says, "For a woman cannot be liberated in any meaningful way

if she does not know that she needs to be liberated" (Tyson 95). The liberation of females stems

from the women who are doing the liberating; from the women showing it is okay not to use

one’s appearance to get ahead or not to objectify oneself.

By accommodating the ideas of how women should be taught to act like women,

regarding social constructionism, P!nk felt this was the number one aspect that makes someone a

"stupid girl". Making her appearance her number one priority and using that plus her sexuality

for success, is wrong. The opening minutes of the video show this young girl mimicking what

she sees on the television. An Etiquette class is shown as the teacher flips her hair and the

students follow, along with the young girl. According to Beauvoir's theory of social

constructionism, "One is not born a woman; one becomes one" (Tyson 92). By "becoming" a

woman this means that these young girls are taught how to "perform" the role of her gender.

Having women such as Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson, who were known for using their

sexuality for fame, idolized, young girls will mimic their behavior; when they should be

mimicking the women who are using, "their brains, their strength, their work ethic, their talent,

their 'magic' that they were born with, that only THEY possess" (Refinery29). Using one’s mind

and strength will cause growth as a woman and end in a realization that they are just as important

as men.
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P!nk addresses certain stereotypes in gender roles that these "stupid girls" fit in to or what

makes them a "stupid girl." The word vanity comes to mind when P!nk says, "Diseases growing,

It’s an epidemic. I’m scared that there ain't a cure" ("Stupid Girls 00:01:10-14) as she lies on the

table of a plastic surgeon to "fix" her body. She sounds aggravated as she compares these

hypersexualized women to a growing disease. This is not the first time women have been

compared to a growing disease, Gilbert and Gubar mention that women would stress so much

about being skinny, that they would “feel pressured into ‘reducing’ their body to meet such

standards”; thus referring to it as the “female disease” (Gilbert and Gubar). Women should not

have to "fix" anything about themselves and should embrace the statue of their body they were

born with. P!nk addresses this problem when she takes the role of a young girl making herself

vomit because eating that many calories is not "sexy." According to the statement made by the

International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals, P!nk addressed how our culture puts

stress on these women to have these "unrealistic pursuits of thinness"(Entertainment Weekly).

By letting men dictate what our bodies "should" look like in order to be considered sexy, gives

them the power that they think they already have, making women "contingent beings" (Tyson

92). The video talks a lot about how important body image is to females. Not about body

positivity and loving the body their in, but how much these women try to change their body so it

will be accepted by society as “sexy”. By augmenting their bodies, these women are trying to

adapt to what is accepted not only by society and the media but by what will help the completion

of the “male gaze”.

From being the victim of a nip tuck, pulling an "emergency" boob grower, and stripping

on a treadmill, P!nk shows the extremes women have to go to, to achieve the “male gaze”. The

“male gaze” gives power to whoever is looking (the men) while the object (the women) are just
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merely something to look at (Tyson 97). Repeatedly through the song, P!nk says, "maybe if I act

like that, that guy will call me back — a porno paparazzi girl. I don't want to be a stupid girl"

("Stupid Girls" 00:00:48-57). As videos of women with enlarged assets bounce and run,

grabbing the attention of the men in the video, P!nk tries to grasp their attention by doing these

outrageous acts that end up making her look like a fool. Doing this gives power to the patriarchy

and the theory that women are just “commodities and tokens for men” (Tyson 97). According to

Beauvoir, men are these essential beings that can, "act upon the world, change it, give it

meaning, while women have meaning only in relation to men" (Tyson 92). The media has

formed this criterion that women have to live up to in order for them to be worthy of a man, this

stemming from Beauvoir’s “other” theory and how a woman compares to a man.

Arguing that women are their own sex and not the “other”, Beauvoir claims that we

would not know what a woman was without the patriarchal social conditioning. The alluring

nature of these "stupid girls" in the video is only because they believe they will get something

out of it from the men. Showing off their assets to compete against other women for male

attention only solidifies the idea, that women live to please men, they are their “other”. By trying

to receive this compensation from men such as a "daddy to pay for the champagne" ("Stupid

Girls" 00:00:23-27), signifies that women are acting this way to get someone to pay for things.

This relates to Colette Guillaumin and her women oppression theory of “direct theory of

appropriation” (Tyson 94). Relying on a man to purchase material goods is an example of why

the text says women are used as objects, and their opinions do not count unless they conform to

those of patriarchy (Tyson 86). The song does not only say something about the women, but it

says that these men are only attracted to the "stupid girls." They prefer them because they,

"complement and support the man's accomplishments" (Vonne 2015). P!nk emphasizes how
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these girls lack ambition for their success because they are so focused on their appearance and

getting the attention of males.

The main thing these "stupid girls" in the video are lacking is ambition. P!nk's main goal

is to prove that being an outcast is a good thing and it is apparent through the lyric, " Outcasts

and girls with ambition, that is what I wanna see" ("Stupid Girls" 00:01:24-28). Having ambition

would be a challenge to the success of a man and would be precisely what Colette Guillaumin is

trying to have females do. According to the fourth forum in her theory of Sexage, the female's

obligation is to take care fo the family and take care of the man's needs(Tyson 95). Society has

conditioned it into our minds that men are the only ones who can be successful, making them

dominant over women. They have made it clear their view of women is only to be a nurturer.

Instead of relying on a man to make her feel worthy, P!nks mission was to embed it into the

young girl's mind that it is okay to be successful on one’s own. Being a successful woman to

some males may be a threat, but there is no higher achievement as a woman, than to have power.

Power in women comes with self-love and determination. As P!nk states she wants to see

girls with ambition; she also asks the opened ended question of "What happened to the dream of

a girl president" ("Stupid Girls" 00:00:28-33). After it is stated so many times that females are

not the dominant race, P!nk decided to put that question back into society, trying to "condemn

sexism and promote intelligence" (Refinery29). The goals these "stupid girls" have seemed

insignificant and minor as their motive is the attention of men, where the "president" dream is

influential to make a difference in the world. P!nk uses her platform wisely to change her bad-

girl image to one that young women can look up to. Getting the girls to act like a tom-boy was

not the goal, but letting the girls know that they have a choice, to begin with, was P!nks motive.

At the beginning of the video, the young girl plays with her doll as she watches the tv, but as the
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video is coming to an end, she decides to grab the football instead ("Stupid Girls" 00:03:22-28).

As the traditional gender role would have been for her to grab the doll, she went against the

social norm and chose something different.

While choosing to do a feminist analyzation of “Stupid Girl’s”, the subliminal message

behind the video brought attention to how much the media tries to mold the young girls’ minds

into becoming these “objects”. “Stupid Girl’s” is the foundation of change as it tries to convince

the younger girls to be different and not succumb to these gender roles the media has taught them

to follow. The song puts a stop to social constructionism and women objectifying themselves for

the male entertainment, therefore preventing the minds of the women of tomorrow from being

molded into the way the media wants them to be.

Works Cited

Carlin, Shannon, and Justin Lloyd/Newspix/REX. "Does The Message In Pink's ‘Stupid Girls'

Still Hold Up A Decade Later?" Refinery29, Refinery29, 4 Apr. 2016,

www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/04/107350/pink-stupid-girls-anniversary-essay.
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Collis, Clark. "Pink Wants to Talk about ''Stupid Girls''." Entertainment Weekly, EW.com, 24

Mar.

2006, https://ew.com/article/2006/03/24/pink-wants-talk-about-stupid-girls/.

“Feminist Criticism .” Critical Theory Today: a User-Friendly Guide , 3rd ed., Routledge, 2015,.

pp. 79–115.

“Feminist Criticism: An Introduction”, PDF file.

PinkVideoVault. "P!Nk - Stupid Girls." YouTube, YouTube, 25 Oct. 2009,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR4yQFZK9YM.

Vonne, Lannay. "Song Analysis: ‘Stupid Girls' by P!Nk." Vichyssoise of Verbiage, 28 Apr.

2015,

https://purejargon.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/song-analysis-stupid-girls-by-pnk/.

Wynter, Vivienne. "They're Not Stupid Girls." Griffith Review, Griffith Review Edition 13: The

Next Big Thing, https://griffithreview.com/articles/theyre-not-stupid-girls/.