"Poor women who want to stay home with their children are called lazy, welfare cheats. If you’re poor, you can only be a good mother by working."
So true. Though poor white moms get the same double standard - we're just "white trash" instead. Because moms are supposed to be devoted to their kids and be there for them... and kids are "our future" and all... until somebody's taxes are at stake. *Then* moms should put tax breaks for the rich ahead of their own children, and said children are worthless to society.

Very few of the costumes in the Beyonce video are "middle/upper class," as far as I could tell. There was the one with the book and the red gloves, and the pin-up poster girl with the signboard, but all the rest look like various sorts of sordid desperation.

"And that twist is very political. Consider this: In American politics today, the “perfect” mother is one who does not work and stays home with her children. Unless she’s poor. Poor women who want to stay home with their children are called lazy, welfare cheats. If you’re poor, you can only be a good mother by working."

This. Hits the nail on the head.

I’m so glad that this was posted! As a fan of pop music and student of sociology, I’ve been thinking about what Beyonce’s level of success says about the supposed ideal 2010 woman (black woman?) in US culture. I think this video is pretty exemplary of Beyonce’s work as a whole and instead of discussing my opinions, I’m curious as to what yours are— not just about the video, but about Beyonce’s significance as a (if not “the”) female cultural icon of the moment. What about her is so appealing right now?

Beyonce is much whiter than usual in that video.

Beyonce I can't see appropriating anything, the 1950s pin-up look is currently fashionable, though god knows why. I don't think gender equality has really got to the point to make the 1950s 'kitsch' just yet.

The other I can't see because the video is blocked outside of the states. LAME!!

"I know there were certainly upper-middle-class women of color in the ’50s and ’60s, but this image of the happy-but-secretly-unhappy housewife is stereotypically white."

I really have a problem swallowing this statement when it comes from a young, white woman. I do value Ann's opinions on the topic, but I don't think her notions of the stereotype are valid because she never has been and never will be a woman of color and, therefore, wouldn't have a clue how women of color who were housewives felt about their roles. I might feel a little better if there were some interviews or something, statistics - I don't know. Something about this article just seems off because it comes from a white perspective. Am I the only one who feels that way?

The Beyonce video is so clearly tongue-in-cheek, from what I could see. I mean, that whole music break where she's dusting off all her Grammys, she's all but winking at the camera. It's great.

I was puzzled by the Feministing post, because I couldn't see how the Beyonce video had anything to do with traditional homemaking. It switches back and forth between images of prostitution, and images of housecleaning. To my mind, it felt very different from the traditional madonna/whore dichotomy, because there wasn't even a hint of children. The tone reminded me of Beyonce's earlier work in danceable marriage pushing. (If hooking up is as good as marriage, and you use my body however you want, so why don't you love me? I'm trying so hard to make it easy for you, why don't you need me, why don't you marry me? If you like it than you should have put a ring on it.)

The Sade video, on the other hand, presumed some kind of mother-father-child family (though not necessarily all living together, and not necessarily only them.) But the song focuses so strongly on the father-child connection as to push the mother-father bond offstage. The mother-child affection is implicit in the singing, of course, as in a mother singing, "Hush Little Baby," or "Baby Bunting."

If they hadn't been released the same week, I wonder if anybody would have seen a connection between the videos?

At first glance, I was convinced Beyonce had realized she's falled off the bandwagon. Then, I just got the desperation.
I hear her marriage to Jay-Z isn't as deep as she would like it to seem and/or be.

I related it to "ring the alarm", that basic warnign she gave to Jay-Z and a "mistress from the caribean" to stay away from her man. Now she wondered why Jay-Z isnt as enamored with her, unrequited love I guess.

Oh well, Im giving into celeb gossip.

Ok, Beyonce Knowles as Bettie Page was... interesting.

Sade is mixed race (black/white) and British. I'm not surprised you Americans couldn't be bothered to analyse that. You've always got to make it all about you. It's funny how when you ty to prove you get intersectionality you make an issue out of black womens race (mixed or otherwise) but when you analyse white women's music videos (lady gaga, britney e.t,c.)you don't tend to mention their race, because of course, only women with African ancestry have got a race.

It's interesting to me that Ann assumes that they are housewives. Beyonce's video just looks to be about playing with the Mad Men retro-theme because it's popular and Sade's, well, looks to me like she's not a housewife and maybe runs an ice cream truck. Which is to say, working women also wash dishes, care for children and make jell-o. These things (except for the jell-o) have to happen whether mommy has a job or not.

Andrew, I was unable to reply directly to your comment. But you said:

"Most Americans who hear the term “1950’s housewife” will think of a white woman, because they comprise the overwhelming majority of archetypal images of 1950s housewives."

You may be right, given that most Americans imagine "white" when someone says "American." But why would a black person imagine a white housewife when someone says "1950's housewife" when the housewife in his or her life would likely have been black? Is the implication here that Sade and Beyonce are marketing to a white American audience only? Or can we go ahead and imagine that maybe Beyonce and Sade imagine a black housewife when they imagine the 1950's housewife?

"How actual black housewives of the 50s actually lived and felt is completely irrelevant to the author’s point, with or without statistics. Rather, she was referring to how the iconic *idea* (“stereotype”) of a housewife from that period is usually presented visually."

However, the "welfare queen" stereotype was brought in as a means of enforcing that blacks had a different stereotype to deal with at the time, and to prove that they did not fit into the happy/unhappy housewife stereotype because they were being viewed as welfare recipients. The "welfare queen" stereotype references an entirely different time period, though. While the American welfare system started in the 30's, it didn't start to look like what we see welfare as today until the 60s with the growth of AFDC.

My point is that there has been no evidence that there wasn't the same stereotype about black women in the 50's. I don't see any information showing that there was, just that there was not - and it's based on something that isn't true (welfare queen stereotype). I'm not looking to prove anyone wrong here, I'm just saying that I disagree and I'm open to being shown differently, but so far that hasn't happened.

This subversion, to me, isn't a subversion. It is not at all hard for me to believe that blacks might have the same perception of the happy/unhappy housewife as well, featuring a black woman instead of a white one. I don't profess to have the answer here. Blacks were certainly not a part of white American popular culture in the 50's. And it seems no research was done to assure the readers that this stereotype does/did not exist in black American popular culture. The welfare queen stereotype was meant to show that, but it isn't an accurate comparison.

Some more food for thought:

During slavery only the very wealthy could afford to hire black women as "house servants," but during Jim Crow even middle class white women could hire black domestic workers. These black women were not mammies. Mammy was "black, fat with huge breasts, and head covered with a kerchief to hide her nappy hair, strong, kind, loyal, sexless, religious and superstitious."5 She spoke bastardized English; she did not care about her appearance. She was politically safe. She was culturally safe. She was, of course, a figment of a white imagination, a nostalgic yearning for a reality that never had been. The real-life black domestics of the Jim Crow era were poor women denied other opportunities. They performed many of the duties of the fictional mammies, but, unlike the caricature, they were dedicated to their own families, and often resentful of their lowly societal status.

Source: Dr. David Pilgrim, Professor of Sociology at Ferris State University.

Interesting.
While the videos may be subversive, there are some questions I have.Before discussing their intent as artists I want to know:

Who is the intended audience?
Do the artists believe that these images would be subversive to their audience.

A white person may feel the Cosby Show was subversive. And perhaps because Bill Cosby knew that much of non-black America was not used to seeing African Americans in that context, it was.
But, if Bill's intended audience were black AND Bill knew that to Black America these were ordinary, but simply rarely publicizes, scenes of Black Life, then was it meant to be subversive?

An under 30 African America woman from an upper middle class family making music that she may intend to be for an Africa American audience, would likely see nothing subversive about this at all.I see nothing at all out of the ordinary about the videos because there is no contradiction in my mind- bored 50's housewife and black woman are not mutually exclusive to me. If I were to make a video portraying a black 50's hausfrau, it would not immediately occur to me that this was jarring because to me it is as normal as showing a fish swimming in water and it would take some thought to realize- other people may find this unusual because of their ignorance and unfamiliarity with black people.

Many "minority" artists make music for their community, though they don't mind other ppl buying it. To assume either woman is being subversive is also to assume they're speaking to non-black folks.

I don't like the word appropriate because it does, IMO, presume that this is an image that does not belong to black women. I also get sick of people complaining about WOC in retro clothes, as if WOC havent been in this country for centuries wearing the same clothing as everyone else. Just because YOU think its weird, I don't. I've got photo albums that go back to the invention of photography with pics of my family wearing the same thing Average White Person's family wore.Don't Other me.

One thing that could have been discussed in the article is the fact that both Sade and Beyonce are light skinned/are not dark-skinned black women and how that makes their portrayal of "white retro home-maker' more acceptable. I doubt this image would fly if a darker skinned black woman did something like this. Being light skinned is seen as being closer to White.

I think it's interesting that there has been little comment on the site so far about the fact that in addition to playing into a "homemaker" role (though I have to say the "homemaker" slips in Sade's video look far more like those associated with those that might be work under a working woman's skirt suit...) Sade's video assumes the need for a mother to interpret the emotions and love between/for a father and child...

Did this remind anyone else of "The Dialectic of Sex" by Shulamith Firestone? I'm not saying this was Beyonce's intent, but if you're looking for it, Shulamith's characterization of heterosexual love is represented very thoroughly in this video.

Alls I'm saying is, if I ever get to teach Firestone, I'm showing this video in class.

in the movies you see them being modest and pure not hanging their booty out everywhere like Beyonce.

Both videos are rather tongue in cheek. And they are just videos. In fact in the Sade video she is obviously portraying a working woman in what looks like the Caribbean. She represent the image of an industrious neighborhood woman who is a model for kids in the neighborhood as she makes and then sells her wares. So There goes your theory darling. Sade clearly has a career. LOL

It's important to note that Sade is Nigerian born and the image of merchant mothers is pivotal to that culture. The women are often the bread winners in that regard. I love the special message the video seems to send for her daughter who is half Jamaican, that despite breakups, or perhaps shortcomings, fathers have love for their children. Beyonce is just being "creative".